Assessment of Multi-Slice Computed Tomography Angiography (MSCTA) Finding of Major Vascular Injuries in Blunt Abdominopelvic Trauma

Abstract

Blunt abdominal trauma is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among all age groups worldwide. The management of the blunt abdominal trauma patient is demanding and requires speed and efficiency. Diagnosing intra-abdominal injuries is often challenging because some of the injuries may not manifest during the initial assessment period. Those missed intra-abdominal injuries are frequent causes of morbidity and mortality, especially in patients who survive the initial phase of assessment. If the diagnosis of abdominal injury is not done properly, then a worse outcome is frequently associated. For example, if perforation of the gastrointestinal tract is involved, a delayed treatment can be associated with a high morbidity and mortality. However, even though most of abdominal trauma-related deaths are known to be preventable, studies have shown the abdominal trauma to be one of the most common causes of preventable deaths. Physical examination findings cannot be reliable in the case of blunt abdominal trauma. One reason is that mechanisms of injury can result in other associated injuries that may divert the physician’s attention from potentially life-threatening intra-abdominal pathology. An altered mental state, drug use, and alcohol intoxication are other challenging reasons. The most common causes of blunt abdominal trauma are motor vehicle collisions (MCVs), assaults, recreational accidents, or falls; the most commonly injured organs are spleen, liver, retroperitoneum, small bowel, kidneys, bladder, colon, rectum, diaphragm, and pancreas; and men tend to be affected slightly more often than woman.