Traumatic Perforation of the Small Intestine in General Surgery of the CHU Gabriel Touré

Goal: To determine hospital frequency, to describe the clinical and therapeutic aspects and to determine the prognosis. Patients and Methods: This was a retrospective and prospective study carried out in the General Surgery Department from 1 January 1999 to 31 December 2015. Inclusion criteria: 1) open or closed trauma of the abdomen with perforation of the small bowel; 2) clinical examination (abdominal pain, vomiting, fever, abdominal contracture, evisceration, intraoperative findings); 3) paraclinical examinations: pneumoperitoneum on the abdominal X-ray without preparation (ASP) and CT scan. Exclusion Criteria: Abdominal trauma without perforation of the small bowel. We selected 128 patients operated for traumatic perforation of the small bowel. The data was entered and analyzed using Word, Excel 2007 and Statistical Package and Social Science Windows 16.0. The statistical analysis consisted in the calculation of the different frequencies of the variables studied. We used the Khi2 test with significance level P < 0.05. Results: We recorded 119 men versus 9 women and the sex ratio was 13.22. The mean age was 25 years with extremes varying between 15 and 70 years. The majority of patients 57.7% (74 cases) came from the capital, 46.1% (59 cases) were workers, 26.6% (34 cases) of the students. The average time to admission was 29 hours. The main etiologies were road traffic accidents 36.7% (47 cases), stabbing 21.9% (28 cases), firearm 14.8% (19 cases), and sports accidents 10.1% (13 cases). The main clinical signs were abdominal pain 48.44% (62 cases), abdominal contracture 60% (76 cases), disappearance of pre-liver dullness 66.36% (84 cases), and Douglas painful 74.4% (94 cases). The abdominal X-ray without preparation (A.S.P) allowed to objectify a pneumoperitoneum in 45.31% and the scanner a liquid effusion in 45.31% with the associated lesions in 37.5% (48 cases). The surgical treatment consisted of 60.15% suture excision (77 cases), 25% anastomosis resection (32 cases) and a 15% stoma (19 cases). The average length of hospital stay was 9 days with extremes of 1 to 60 days. The morbidity was 10.15% at the site of surgical site (OS) infection 17.4% (8 cases), postoperative peritonitis 3.1% (4 cases) and evisceration 0.8% (1 case). Mortality was 17.18% due to septic shock and multivisceral failure. Conclusion: Traumatic perforation of the small bowel is an emergency. Young people are more victims. The prognosis depends on the speed of diagnosis and management. Emphasis should be placed on prevention.