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Operative and Nonoperative Management of Blunt Liver Injuries

  • Blunt Abdominal Trauma (K Søreide, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Trauma Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

The purpose of this review is to discuss the indications for operative and nonoperative management in patients with blunt liver injuries.

Recent Findings

Over the past several years, research has begun to show that nonoperative management in blunt liver injuries is feasible and has favorable outcomes over immediate operations in patients who are hemodynamically stable. This includes high-grade injuries who were previously taken to the operating room, in the absence of peritoneal signs or instability, for washout and packing. This trend in management is likely multifactorial and includes improved quality of critical care medicine, advances in imaging to accurately define the injury and trend changes, and other interventional techniques such as embolization, percutaneous drainage and endoscopy. The mainstay of treatment for hemodynamically unstable patients remains operative.

Summary

This article will provide current recommendations for operative and nonoperative management strategies in patients with blunt liver injuries, taking into account initial clinical picture and resources available.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Critical Care and Emergency Surgery, VCU Surgery Trauma, West Hospital, 15th Floor, East Wing, 1200 E. Broad St., PO Box 980454, Richmond, VA, 23298-0454, USA

    Jill Peysha & Paula Ferrada

  2. Department of Surgery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, 23298, USA

    Jill Peysha & Paula Ferrada

Authors
  1. Jill Peysha
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  2. Paula Ferrada
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Correspondence to Paula Ferrada.

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Conflict of Interest

Drs. Peysha and Ferrada declare no conflicts of interest relevant to this manuscript.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Blunt Abdominal Trauma

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Peysha, J., Ferrada, P. Operative and Nonoperative Management of Blunt Liver Injuries. Curr Trauma Rep 3, 38–42 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40719-017-0077-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40719-017-0077-z

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