Duodenal perforation following blunt abdominal trauma

Abstract

Duodenal perforation following blunt abdominal trauma is an extremely rare and often overlooked injury leading to increased mortality and morbidity. We report two cases of isolated duodenal injury following blunt abdominal trauma and highlight the challenges associated with their management. In both these patients, the diagnosis of the duodenal injuries was delayed, leading to prolonged hospital stay. The first patient had two perforations, one on the anterior and the other on the posterior wall of the duodenum, of which the posterior perforation was missed at initial laparotomy. In the other patient, the duodenal injury was missed during the initial assessment in the emergency department. He returned to the emergency department 24 hours after discharge with abdominal pain and vomiting. During trauma related laparotomy, complete kocherization (mobilization) of the duodenum must be mandatory, even in the presence of obvious injury on its anterior wall. We emphasize on keeping the management protocol simple by a “triple tube decompression”, i.e. duodenorrhaphy (simple closure), tube gastrostomy, reverse tube duodenostomy and a feeding jejunostomy.