Abstract

Trauma is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children.¹ Trauma stats include nearly 1.5 million injuries, 500,000 hospitalizations, 20,000 deaths, and over 120,000 permanently disabled victims annually.² Blunt trauma accounts for approximately 90% of all pediatric injuries, with falls and motor vehicle collisions representing the most common mechanisms of injury.³ Head and extremity injuries occur most frequently; however, injury to the abdomen can occur in up to 8% of children, and abdominal injury is responsible for 9% of all trauma deaths.⁴ Significant abdominal trauma occurs in 25% of children sustaining multisystem injuries. While head and thoracic injuries are the most common cause of trauma-related death, abdominal trauma is the leading cause of initially unrecognized fatal injury in children.⁵ These injuries can be potentially lifethreatening; therefore, physicians who manage pediatric trauma must have a complete understanding and systematic approach to the presentation, evaluation, and initial management of pediatric patients with blunt abdominal trauma.

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