Pancreatico duodenal trauma in children: Two-year experience at a regional referral center and tertiary care teaching hospital

Background Pancreatico-Duodenal injuries, though rare, pose a mighty challenge to the surgeon in both diagnosis and treatment. More so in children, where the patho-physiologic threshold is low. Added to this is the absence of any strong guidelines to guide and ensure standardised care in these children for best outcome. Materials and Methods The trauma patients' records in the emergency department, operation theatre, inpatient departmrnt, outpatient department (OPD) for the period of December 2016 to December 2018 in the institution were retrospectively reviewed, to find out the cases of pancreaticoduodenal trauma proven radiologically, biochemically and/or on laparotomy. Those cases then studied with respect to diagnosis, treatment and short term outcome. Results Of the 256 cases of abdominal trauma, suspected pancreatico duodenal (PD) trauma were in nine but on laparotomy actually eight of them had PD trauma. All were blunt abdominal traumas sustained in road traffic accidents. Of these one was combined pancreatico duodenal while three were pure pancreatic and four were pure duodenal. One had associated superior mesenteric vein trauma. All were managed operatively. There were no mortality, one fourth had major complications. Mean hospital stay was 22.25 days. Follow up period varied from six to 32 months. Conclusion Though PD traumas are rare but are potentially very morbid and may prove fatal. Proactive individualized management, multidisciplinary approach and good perioperative support can yield good results.