Contemporary management of pediatric high grade renal trauma: 10 year experience at a level 1 trauma centre

Abstract

Current guidelines advocating the conservative management of renal injuries in children are primarily extrapolated from adult series due to a dearth of evidence in the pediatric population. The aim of this study was to review our experience in the management of pediatric high-grade renal trauma and to clarify the role of conservative management in this cohort of patients. The Alberta Trauma Registry (ATR) is a comprehensive web-based registry which functions to prospectively collect data on all trauma patients in the province who sustain a severe injury (i.e. Injury Severity Score (ISS) ≥12). The ATR was used to identify all pediatric patients who attended hospitals within the Edmonton region with high grade renal injuries (grade III-V) between January 2006 and December 2018. Hospital records and imaging were reviewed to identify patient demographics, mechanism of injury, AAST grade, haemodynamic stability, associated injuries, management, length of hospital stay (LOS), complications, and follow-up outcomes. A total of 53 children (38 boys, 15 girls) were identified with a mean age of 13 years (1-16). The mechanism of injury was blunt trauma in 92.5% (49/53) of cases (Supplementary Table). AAST grade distribution was 37.8% Grade III (20/53), 49% Grade IV (26/53) and 13.2% Grade V (7/53). All Grade III injuries were successfully managed conservatively. Overall 11 patients with Grade IV/V injuries required urological intervention (ureteral stenting (5 patients), angioembolization (4 patients), bladder washout with clot evacuation (1 patient), emergency nephrectomy (3 patients)). The overall renal salvage rate was 92.4% (49/53). Our series confirms the safety of expectant management in high grade pediatric renal trauma. All grade III injuries in our study were managed conservatively without the need for intervention. This suggests that these injuries may be managed safely outside of designated trauma centres. One third of children with grade IV/V injuries required intervention. Therefore we recommend that patients with these injuries are transferred to specialized units with the capacity to provide such procedures if required. This study supports the conservative management of pediatric renal trauma in the setting of high-grade injury. Expectant management was associated with acceptable rates of intervention and excellent renal salvage rates.