Hemoperitoneum Due to Trauma in the Superior Pancreatic Artery

Abstract

Introduction: Abdominal trauma, specifically hemoperitoneum due to retroperitoneal injury, represents a challenge for the surgeon who works in the emergency department. Hemoperitoneum due to rupture of a branch of the dorsal superior pancreatic artery is not frequent; the pancreas is a retroperitoneal organ that, due to its location, is difficult to be affected by trauma. Objective: to contribute to medical knowledge by presenting a case of hemoperitoneum due to a lesion in a branch of the superior pancreatic artery. Material and method: Description of a clinical case and review of the literature. Presentation of the case: a 51-year-old male patient, with a history of chronic alcoholism, who was admitted to the hospital in the surgery department for having had a blunt abdominal trauma of two days of evolution, had intense diffuse abdominal pain, did not expel feces or gas, tachycardic, with an abdominal ultrasound that reported free fluid in the cavity. He was taken to the operating room, finding hemoperitoneum due to a retroperitoneal bleeding lesion, specifically from a bleeding vessel from the superior dorsal pancreatic artery. After surgery, the patient evolved favorably and was discharged. Conclusions: hemoperitoneum due to pancreatic artery injury is not frequent, so sometimes there is a delay in the diagnosis, which threatens a good patient evolution, which justifies the morbidity and mortality in these cases.