Pulmonary embolisms and infections after renal trauma

Abstract

Introduction: The objective of this study was to describe and evaluate the management of patients with renal trauma and their complications at the Department of Urology at Aarhus University Hospital (AUH), Denmark.

Methods: All patients diagnosed with renal injury due to trauma and with contact to the Department of Urology at the AUH, Denmark, between March 2016 and March 2021 were included. Patients were identified by the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth version, code and data obtained from electronic patient records.

Results: A total of 58 patients were identified. The median age was 33 years (7-95 years) and the median length of hospitalisation was five days (range: 0-52 days). All patients were evaluated with a multiphase computed tomography upon admission. Injuries to the kidney were graded using the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma kidney injury scale. Twelve percent had grade I injury, 26% had grade II injury, 26% had grade III injury, 36% had grade IV injury and 3% had grade V injury. In the acute phase, all patients were managed non-operatively. Early complications were found in 24% of patients. Pulmonary embolism was diagnosed in 7%. Furthermore, 7% had an infection as a late complication and all of these patients had also had an early infection. A total of 60% were followed up with a renal-scintigraphy three months after their renal trauma. This examination had no consequence for any of the patients.

Conclusions: No patients died due to the renal trauma. However, many experienced complications in terms of infections and pulmonary embolisms. These data support earlier findings and suggest that a renal scintigraphy after renal traumas may be obsolete.

Funding: None.

Trial registration: Not relevant.