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Penetrating Abdominal Trauma

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Surgery

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Abstract

A 24-year-old male is brought to the emergency room following a gunshot wound (GSW) to the left lower abdomen. On initial examination, his blood pressure is 80/65 mmHg, heart rate is 140/min, and respiratory rate is 26/min. He appears pale and is diaphoretic. He is unable to remain still secondary to pain. The patient’s airway is patent and there are equal breath sounds bilaterally. He has a rigid abdomen with diffuse tenderness, guarding, and rebound. There is a single entry wound to the left lower quadrant. No other GSWs are noted on exam. Palpation of the patient’s lower extremity pulses reveals a diminished left femoral pulse and a normal right femoral pulse. His left leg is cool to touch. The patient is urgently taken to the operating room.

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Suggested Reading

  • Nicholas JM, Rix EP, Easley KA, et al. Changing patterns in the management of penetrating abdominal trauma: the more things change, the more they stay the same. J Trauma. 2003;55:1095.

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    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, 1000 W. Carson Street, Box 42, Torrance, CA, 90509, USA

    Dennis Y. Kim MD

  2. Department of Surgery, University of California, Irvine, 333 City Blvd West, Suite 1600, Route. 81, Orange, CA, 92868, USA

    Areg Grigorian MD

Authors
  1. Dennis Y. Kim MD
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  2. Areg Grigorian MD
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dennis Y. Kim MD .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California, USA

    Christian de Virgilio

  2. General Surgery, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, Torrance, California, USA

    Paul N. Frank

  3. Department of Surgery, University of California, Irvine, Orange, California, USA

    Areg Grigorian

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© 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Kim, D.Y., Grigorian, A. (2015). Penetrating Abdominal Trauma. In: de Virgilio, C., Frank, P., Grigorian, A. (eds) Surgery. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1726-6_42

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-1726-6_42

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-1725-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-1726-6

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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