Introduction: The traditional management of pediatric penetrating trauma has been wide surgical examination. However, the selective nonoperative management is increasing thanks to the precise diagnosis obtained from radiologic studies as CT scan. The purpose of this study is reviewing our experience in the last eight years with a less invasive management.
Patients and methods: We retrospectively reviewed (2000-2007) the patients with penetrating injuries of different parts of the body (excluding cranioencephalic traumatism) treated in our center and registered by the Clinical Documentation Unit. The variables collected and evaluated included age, mechanism of injury, kind of injury, diagnostic and therapeutic modalities and outcome.
Results: There were 17 patients (median 9.5 years, range 4-17) with penetrating trauma. According the localization of injury the patients were divided into 4 groups: abdominal (17.6%), thoracic (23.5%), cervical (17.6%) and extremities (41.2%). The most frequent kind of injuries were: skin and muscle (with or without penetrating peritoneal or chest cavity, 52.9%) vascular or neurological structures (29.4%). We would like to highlight one case of cardiac perforation and taponade, one traqueal lesion and one case of external iliac vein injury. The injuries caused by glass (35.3%) and sharp arms (29,4%) were the most frequent mechanism. Simple suture and observation was treatment enough in 47.1%. Three patients required neural and vascular micro suture. One patient followed a thoracotomy procedure and other one, a sternotomy. It wasn't necessary any laparotomy. No patient died and 88% of the patients have no sequelae.
Conclusions: Most of the penetrating child traumas have good prognosis and are associated with few sequelae. Low energy thoracic and abdominal penetrating traumas can be managed conservatively when the patient is hemodiynamically stable and CT scan shows no organ injury, avoiding unnecessary surgical examinations.