Blunt traumatic diaphragmatic injury: A diagnostic enigma with potential surgical pitfalls.

BACKGROUND: Blunt traumatic diaphragmatic injury (BTDI) is an uncommon injury and one which is difficult to diagnose. The objective of this study was to identify features associated with this injury.

METHODS: This was a retrospective study based on records of 354307 blunt trauma victims treated between 1998 and 2013 collected by the Israeli National Trauma Registry.

RESULTS: BTDI was reported in 231 (0.065%) patients. Motor vehicle accidents were responsible for 84.4% of the injuries: 97 (42.0%) were reported as drivers; 54 (23.4%) were passengers; 34 (14.7%) were pedestrians hit by cars; and 10 (4.3%) were on motorcycles. There were more males than females (2.5:1) compared with blunt trauma patients without BTDI (p<.001). Patients with BTDI were significantly younger than blunt trauma patients without BTDI (p<.001). ISS was 9-14 in 5.2%, 16-24 in 16.9%, 25-75 in 77.9%. Urgent surgery was performed in 62% of the patients and 79.7% had surgery within 24h of admission. Mortality was 26.8%. Over 40% of patients with BTDI had associated rib, pelvic and/or extremity injuries. Over 30% had associated spleen, liver and/or lung injuries. Nevertheless, less than 1% of patients with skeletal injuries and less than 2.5% with solid organ injuries overall had associated BTDI. Despite hollow viscus injury being less prevalent, up to 6% of patients with this injury had associated BTDI.

CONCLUSIONS: BTDI is infrequent following blunt trauma. Hollow viscus injuries were more predictive of BTDI than skeletal or solid organ injuries.