Abstract
Motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of blunt abdominal trauma with the liver and spleen being most commonly injured. It is important to evaluate all the structures in the abdomen as both direct trauma and secondary mechanisms of injury can cause damage to the internal organs. Clinical findings and positive laboratory testing may indicate high suspicion for intra-abdominal injury. Hemodynamically unstable patients and hemodynamically stable patients with suspicion for intra-abdominal injury should be transferred immediately to the emergency department. Patients with solid organ injury or intra-abdominal injury can be managed non-operatively with close monitoring for delayed complications. Patients with liver or spleen injury managed non-operatively can return to light activity immediately and gradually to unrestricted activity after 3 months.
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Sampathkumar, H., Lopez, E. (2017). Blunt Abdominal Trauma. In: Kahn, S., Xu, R. (eds) Musculoskeletal Sports and Spine Disorders. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-50512-1_42
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