Clinical-epidemiological and therapeutic characteristics of patients with liver trauma. Saturnino Lora Hospital

Abstract

Objective: To characterize the clinical and epidemiological aspects of patients with liver trauma treated in the General Surgery Department of the "Saturnino Lora" Provincial Hospital. The study period was from September 2021 to September 2024. Method: This research is an observational and descriptive study. A quantitative research methodology was used with a sample of 83 patients. Results: 61.45% of the patients were male, predominantly in the 28-37 age range. Open trauma was the most common type of injury (55.42%), with stab wounds being the primary cause (33.73%), followed by traffic accidents (9.64%). Traffic accidents were also the leading cause of closed trauma (14.46%). The most frequent injury grades were II and III, at 38.55% and 30.12%, respectively. Hepatorrhaphy with drainage was the most frequently performed surgical technique at 25.30%, followed by hepatorrhaphy with ligation of bleeding vessel and drainage at 19.28%; 45.4% of deaths were due to hypovolemic shock. Conclusions: Mortality in the studied population of patients with liver trauma is primarily caused by hypovolemic shock and intra-abdominal infectious complications. A multicenter study is vital, as it would provide a larger sample size of patients with liver trauma, allowing for a more comprehensive study of the variability, cultural, sociological, and healthcare factors specific to the population of Santiago de Cuba at risk of suffering this type of trauma.