Background:

The rate of penetrating abdominal injury (PAI) with stab wounds in the state of Yucatán is 57%; it is the leading cause of morbidity and disability in people in productive age. To date, nontherapeutic laparotomies have been described in 40%. It is difficult to consider a unique tool to predict the need for laparotomies, which has increased the interest to determine the characteristics of patients and the role of the clinical signs to establish the treatment of this pathology.

Objective:

To determine the demographic factors and clinical signs of penetrating abdominal injuries in patients admitted in the General Hospital Agustín O’Horán of the state of Yucatán.

Material and methods:

This is a retrospective study of 105 records of patients with penetrating anterior abdomen injuries who underwent surgery in a five-year period (January 2010 to December 2014) in the General Hospital Agustín O’Horán. Therapeutic and nontherapeutic laparotomies were compared. Gender, marital status, residence, body mass index, cause of injury, number of injuries, injured body area, age and clinical signs were analyzed.

Results:

Of 105 patients, 99 were male (94%), single, with an average age of 31.3 years, who lived in the interior of the state. The most frequent cause was personal violence, with a knife, in the epigastric zone, with a single wound associated with alcohol abuse. Forty-one patients (39%) had non-therapeutic laparotomy. We found a statistical association (p < 0.05) regarding the place of residence, the clinical signs (heart rate higher than 80 beats per minute, breathing rate greater than 16 breaths per minute), peritonitis, and the result of therapeutic laparotomies.

Conclusion:

Surgical management cannot be discarded in patients with penetrating abdominal injury in asymptomatic and hemodynamic stability conditions; however hemodynamic instability and peritonitis are factors that should be considered for a therapeutic procedure.

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