Penetrating abdominal trauma

The management of patients with penetrating abdominal trauma has significantly changed in recent years. While exploratory laparotomy was the gold standard in Germany in all patients up to the 1970s, selective nonoperative management (SNOM) is increasingly being discussed in hemodynamically stable patients without pathological findings in computed tomography (CT) scan or extended focussed assessment with sonography for trauma (eFAST). A standard algorithm taking a balance between invasiveness, patient safety and the use of resources into account has still to be implemented in Germany. The presented algorithm includes an immediate laparotomy in hemodynamically unstable patients as damage control surgery followed by a second look procedure after 48h. Hemodynamically stable patients should primarily undergo diagnostic laparoscopy and be treated by early total care surgery, depending on the clinical and diagnostic imaging findings. Patients without clinical symptoms or pathological findings in imaging studies should be treated according to SNOM with close clinical controls.