Operative Treatment of Hepatic Trauma in Vachira Phuket Hospital

Descriptive study of an 8-year period, 211 patients with hepatic trauma were studied retrospectively. Most of the patients were male (81.5%). Patients mainly affected were in the third decade of life (46.9%) with an age range of 2 to 65 years old (Mean 26.1 + 9.8). Fifty four percent resulted from blunt and 46.4 % from penetrating injuries. The most common cause of injuries was motorcycle accidents (41.2%). The injuries were graded by the hepatic injury scale (grades I to VI). There were 22 (10.4%), 62 (29.4%), 70 (33.2%), 27 (12.8%), 28 (13.3%) and 2 (0.9%) patients with grade I, II, III, IV, V and VI hepatic injuries, respectively. Forty seven percent of patients were in shock when they first arrived at the emergency room. One hundred and sixty five patients (78.2%) had 375 associated injuries. Seventy three percent of patients had low grade hepatic injuries (grades I to III), the remainder (27%) had high grade hepatic injuries (grades IV to VI). Operative treatment of hepatic injuries varied according to degree of injury. Low grade hepatic injuries amenable to relatively simple operative treatment. Nineteen deaths (12.3%) occurring in this group were attributed to the commonly encountered associated injuries inside and outside the abdomen, which were more frequently seen after blunt trauma (89.5%). High-grade hepatic injuries required major techniques. Thirty four of these patients died (59.6%), death was related to the injury itself (91.2%), which were more frequently seen after blunt trauma (85%). During operation, suture ligature of the bleeding point, o