A novel practical scoring for early diagnosis of traumatic bowel injury without obvious solid organ injury in hemodynamically stable patients

Objectives: To develop a scoring tool based on clinical and radiological findings for early diagnosis and intervention in hemodynamically stable patients with traumatic bowel and mesenteric injury (TBMI) without obvious solid organ injury (SOI). Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted for all traumatic abdominal injury patients in Qatar from 2008 to 2011. Data included demographics and clinical, radiological and operative findings. Multivariate logistic regression was performed to analyze the predictors for the need of therapeutic laparotomy. Results: A total of 105 patients met the inclusion criteria with a mean age of 33±15. Motor Vehicle Crashes (58%) and fall (21%) were the major MOI. Using Receiver operating characteristic curve, Z-score of >9 was the cutoff point (AUC=0.98) for high probability of the presence of TBMI requiring surgical intervention. Z-Score >9 was found to have sensitivity (96.7%), specificity (97.4%), PPV (93.5%) and NPV (98.7%). Multivariate regression analysis found Z-score (>9) to be an independent predictor for the need of exploratory laparotomy (OR7.0; 95% CI: 2.46-19.78, p=0.001). Conclusion: This novel tool for early diagnosis of TBMI is found to be simple and helpful in selecting stable patients with free intra-abdominal fluid without SOI for exploratory Laparotomy. However, further prospective studies are warranted. © 2014 Surgical Associates Ltd.