A Brief Overview of Blunt Abdominal Trauma

A skilled surgeon with more than 26 years of experience, Clemens Gerstenkorn, MD, served as a consultant and trauma surgeon in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Over the course of his career, Dr. Clemens Gerstenkorn has performed a range of surgical procedures, including those used to treat blunt abdominal trauma. 

A commonly seen problem among emergency room physicians and surgeons, blunt abdominal trauma (BAT) accounts for around 80 percent of all abdominal injuries encountered in the emergency room. Although any severe blow can cause an abdominal injury, the majority of BAT cases are the result of auto accidents involving vehicle-to-vehicle collisions or vehicle-to-pedestrian collisions. 

Due to the presence of distracting injuries and delayed onset of related symptoms, BAT can be difficult to diagnose, even for the most experienced surgeons. Reliable signs that abdominal trauma may be present include pain, tenderness, and gastrointestinal hemorrhage. Physical marks caused by a lap belt, steering wheel, or another object can also indicate that the patient has an abdominal injury. 

After BAT is identified, using occasional diagnostic peritoneal lavage, computertomography, sonography, or other diagnostic methods, a physician may employ non-operative as well as surgical procedures to manage the injury. The spleen and liver are the most common focus of BAT treatment, but other organs, including the pancreas, bladder, bowel, mesentery and diaphragm, must also be examined for injury.