Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 May;45(5):1044-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.jpedsurg.2010.01.002.

The failure rate of nonoperative management in children with splenic or liver injury with contrast blush on computed tomography: a systematic review

Cornelis H van der Vlies  1 , Teun P Saltzherr, Jim C H Wilde, Otto M van Delden, Rob J de Haan, J Carel Goslings
Affiliations

The failure rate of nonoperative management in children with splenic or liver injury with contrast blush on computed tomography: a systematic review

Cornelis H van der Vlies et al. J Pediatr Surg. 2010 May.

Abstract

Purpose: Nonoperative management (NOM) is the treatment of choice for hemodymically stable pediatric patients with spleen or liver trauma. The aim of this study was to assess the failure rate of NOM in children with blunt liver and/or splenic injury when a contrast blush is present on a computed tomography (CT) scan.

Methods: A systematic review of the literature published between 1985 and 2009 was performed by searching the EMBASE and MEDLINE database for English and German articles. Articles were eligible if they reported the failure rate of NOM with or without angioembolization (AE) in pediatric patients with splenic and/or liver injuries with a contrast blush on CT and included 2 or more trauma patients. Two reviewers independently assessed the eligibility and the quality of the articles and performed the data extraction. Interrater differences were resolved by discussion.

Results: Nine studies were included describing 117 pediatric patients. The median sample size was 5 (range, 2-44). Seven studies (including 71 patients) reported a total of 16 patients with failure after NOM without AE. Failure rates across these studies ranged from 4.5% to 100%; the pooled percentage was 28.2% (95% confidence interval, 8.9%-61.3%). The failure percentages after NOM with or without AE ranged from 0 to 100%; the pooled percentage was 21% (95% confidence interval, 7.5%-46.8%). Two studies (including 46 patients) reported a total of 3 patients (6.5%) with failure after NOM with primary AE.

Conclusion: Despite the current low level of evidence on failure rate of NOM when a contrast blush is present on CT, we emphasize that there is a significant number of patients in whom NOM fails. We therefore recommend that the management of splenic and hepatic injury in children should not only be based on the physiologic response but should include consideration of the presence of a contrast blush.

PubMed Disclaimer

Publication types