Concomitant injuries are an important determinant of outcome of high-grade blunt hepatic trauma.

Background: Little is known about the clinical importance of concomitant injuries in polytraumatized patients with high-grade blunt liver injury. A retrospective single-centre study was performed to investigate the safety of non-operative management of liver injury and the impact of concomitant intra- and extra-abdominal injuries on clinical outcome.

Methods: Some 183 patients with blunt liver injury were admitted to Berne University Hospital, Switzerland, between January 2000 and December 2006. Grade 3-5 injuries were considered to be high grade.

Results: Immediate laparotomy was required by 35 patients (19.1 per cent), owing to extrahepatic intra-abdominal injury (splenic and vascular injuries, perforations) in 21 cases. The mortality rate was 16.9 per cent; 22 of the 31 deaths were due to concomitant lesions. Of 81 patients with high-grade liver injury, 63 (78 per cent) were managed without surgery; liver-related and extra-abdominal complication rates in these patients were 11 and 17 per cent respectively. Grades 4 and 5 liver injury were associated with hepatic-related and extra-abdominal complications.

Conclusions: Concomitant injuries are a major determinant of outcome in patients with blunt hepatic injury and should be given high priority by trauma surgeons. An algorithm for the management of blunt liver injury is proposed.