Gut Injuries

Overview

Gut injuries are serious life threatening conditions. Among other abdominal injuries andcompared with injuries of parenchymatous organs they accout only for a fraction. The objectiveof the present work is to draw attention to this problem, to some diagnostic aspects and surgicaltreatment.At the authors department in 1990-1997 22 gut injuries were treated. The cause was 5xpenetrating and 6x a non-penetrating abdominal injury, 7x a foreing body, 6x the gut wasdamaged iatrogenically. With the exception of one female patient all patients were operated; ofthe whole group one patient (4.5%) died.In the authors opinion the crucial moment of treatment of the injured gut is an active approachto the diagnosis and surgical treatment, similarly as the approach to other abdominal injuries.

Key words:
gut injuries - diagnosis - surgical treatment - algorithm of approach.