Incidence, patterns, and factors associated with mortality in penetrating abdominal trauma patients

Background: Trauma is a major source of morbidity and mortality in the United States, Penetrating trauma encompasses a wide range of mechanisms that can be generically classified as ballistic (gunshot wounds) and non-ballistic trauma (stab and other puncture wounds). Firearm-related injuries account for the majority of fatalities from penetrating trauma, while cuts/piercings account for the majority of non-fatal instances worldwide. The Aim: To evaluate injury patterns of patients admitted to the hospital with penetrating abdominal trauma, mortality rate, and the factors associated with it. Methods: a cross-sectional study done in Imam Hussein Teaching Hospital, Al-Habobi general hospital and the Turkish general hospital / AL-Nasiriyah-Iraq, to determine the frequency of different abdominal organ injury and mortality rate due to penetrating abdominal trauma in 180 patients during the period of 1st of February, 2021 to 31st of March 2022. Results: The mean age was 34.53 years old. Males were predominant 146 (81.1 %). Small Bowel was the most injured organ (47.2%) followed by large bowel (27.8%). Half of the participants had only one organ injury, and the major mechanism of penetrating injury was sharp objects in about 51% of them. The mortality rate was 8% among participants and there was a significant association between the death rate with the number of injured organs. Conclusion: A high proportion of penetrating abdominal trauma caused by sharp objects or tools and the most affected was young to middle age males. Small intestine was the most injured organ, however, low mortality rate in compared to other studies was noted