Severity of Splenic Trauma and Its Surgical Outcome among Patients Presented at Liaquat University Hospital, Pakistan

Objective: To determine the severity of splenic trauma and its surgical outcome among patients presented with abdominal blunt trauma at surgical emergency of Liaquat University Hospital Jamshoro (Hyderabad)

Material and Methods: This prospective case series study was conducted in the department of Surgery at Liaquat University Hospital Jamshoro, from December 2013 to November 2014. Patients having a diagnosis of abdominal trauma with a diagnosis of splenic injury, aged above 18 years and both genders were included. All the patients underwent surgical treatment as per indications. Patients were monitored during hospital stays to assess the outcome. A study proforma was employed to gather data and SPSS software version 20 was utilized for the analysis of it.

Results: The study included 60 patients; their mean age was 28.3±12.4 years. Most of the cases 51(84.9%) were between 18 and 40 years of age. Males were predominant with a male to female ratio of 3.1:1. The majority of the cases (48.3% and 33.3%, respectively) had Grade III and Grade IV injuries, and none of our patients were diagnosed as Grade V by the scan. Overall among 30 cases, developed complications, particularly as 10 cases had pulmonary infection, 08 cases had intra-abdominal bleeding, wound infection was in 9 and 1 had developed over-whelming post splenectomy (OPSS). The overall mortality rate was 5.0%.

Conclusion: Splenic trauma and its severity in patients having blunt abdominal trauma were observed to be the most frequent. A better outcome has been observed, and it is also depending on the immediate arrival, accurate diagnosis, surgeons' ability, and experience.