Emergency Management of Blunt Splenic Injury in Hypotensive Patients

Abstract

Objectives The purpose of this study is to examine the outcomes of splenic angioembolization (SAE) as the first modality for nonoperative management (NOM) in hypotensive patients with high-grade splenic injuries. Methods Data were collected from the 2007-2010 National Trauma Data Bank data sets of the United States. The data included patients with massive blunt splenic injuries with an Abbreviated Injury Scale (AIS) of 4 or 5, initial systolic blood pressure ≤90, and who underwent either a total splenectomy or SAE (Group 1 and Group 2, respectively) within 4 hours of hospital arrival. The outcomes of interest are in-hospital mortality and complications. Results Of the 1052 patients analyzed, 996 (94.7%) underwent total splenectomy while 56 (5.3%) underwent SAE. There were significant differences regarding injury mechanism ( P = .01) and the proportion of patients with an AIS of 5 (57.6% vs 39.3% respectively, P = .01). A significantly higher number of patients, however, developed organ space infections (3.9% vs 11.6%, P = .02) in Group 2. The multivariate logistic regression model for mortality, which accounted for demography, Glasgow Coma Scale Motor (GCSM) score, Injury Severity Score (ISS), AIS, time to procedure, and procedure type showed the procedure type was not a contributing factor to patient mortality, but higher age, ISS, and lower GCSM score were strong predictors of mortality. Conclusion The treatment of approximately 95% of hypotensive patients with massive splenic injury was total splenectomy. However, if the interventional radiology resources are immediately available, SAE can be used as a first intervention without an increased risk of mortality.