Traumatic injury is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in children. This is a clinical review of pediatric blunt abdominal trauma. A retrospective analysis of the 112 children with blunt abdominal trauma aged 15 years or less treated at the Department of Pediatric Surgery, Chonbuk National University Hospital was performed. The analysis included age, sex, injury mechanism, number and site of the injured organ, management and outcomes. The average age of occurrence was 7.6 years, and the peak age was between 6 and 8 years. There was a male preponderance with a male to female ratio of 2.3:1. The most common cause of blunt abdominal trauma was traffic accidents (61.6%), principally involving pedestrians (79.7%). The accident prone times were between 8:00 AM and 8:00 PM, the weekends (40.2%), and the winter respectively. Thirthy-five patients (31.2%) had multiple intra-abdominal organ injuries and the most common injured organ was the liver. Seventy-four cases (66.1%) were managed non-operatively and eleven cases (9.8%) expired. Of the patients who were treated surgically or were to be operated on one patient died before surgery, the remainder died during or after surgery. Risk factors such as number of injured organ, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and trauma scores by Glasgow coma scale (GCS), Pediatric trauma score (PTS), revised trauma score (RTS), injury severe score (ISS), TRISS were significantly correlated with mortality rate.

A 10-year-old boy was admitted with blunt abdominal trauma by bike handle injury. The patient was operated upon for a generalized peritonitis due to pancreaticoduodenal injury. On opening the peritoneal cavity, complete transection of distal end of common bile duct and, partial separation between pancreas head and second portion of duodenum were found. Ligation of the transected end of the common bile duct, T-tube choledochostomy, and external drainage were performed. A pseudocyst was found around the head portion of the pancreas on the 7th postoperative day with CT. An internal fistula had developed between the pseudocyst and ligated common bile duct. The pseudocyst was subsided after percutaneous drainage. In the case of the undetermined pancreatic injury, percutaneous external drainage can be effective in treating the traumatic pancreatic pseudocyst in a pediatric patient.

The management of twenty-two cllildren with blunt abdominal trauma was analyzed. Nineteen cases had intraabciominal injuries; involving the spleen in 7 cases, the liver in 5, the pancreas in one and the bladder in one. There were five case multiple intraabdominal organ injuries. Seventeen out of 19 patients were treated non-operatively, but one was operated upon later because of delayed bleeding. Thirteen patients required transfusion in the non operated group, the mean values of the Pediatric Trauma Score (PTS) was 11.3. The mean lowest hemoglobulin(LHb) was 9.1 g/dL. The mean value of three cases with extraabdominal injuries were 9.0 and 8.3 g/dL respectively. The average amount of tranfusion was 17.3 ml/kg. In the operated group, 2 cases were transfused an average of 139.8 ml/kg and their mean PTS was 5 and LHb was 6.6 g/dL. In one out of 16 non-operated cases, intrahepatic hematoma developed and but resolved conservatively. However, two out of 3 operated cases suffer complications such as an intubation granuloma and an intraabdominal abscess with wound dehescence. In conclusion, non-operative managenent in child with blunt abdominal trauma was safe in Grade I and II solid organ injuries. The decision for operation should be based on the hemodynamic stability after initial resuscitation including transfusion.