Conservative management of abdominoperineal impalement trauma – A case report

INTRODUCTION: Adult perineal impalement injuries are uncommon and notorious for their complex injury pattern and risk of massive pelvic bleeding. They present a challenge for the treating physician as there is no consensus about the optimal treatment in the existing literature. In most cases patients need operative intervention. CASE PRESENTATION: In this article the authors present a case report of a 63-year old man with an impalement injury in the left gluteus, who was managed conservatively. DISCUSSION: With the recent trends towards conservative management of abdominal penetrating trauma, increased morbidity and costs associated with nontherapeutic laparotomy, conservative management of impalement injuries in hemodynamically stable patients should be considered. Accurate determination of the impaling object trajectory path is vital for the decision and aids to answer two important questions: Did the impaling object enter the peritoneal, retroperitoneal or pelvic cavity? Is there an injury that will require an operation? CONCLUSION: Abdominoperineal impalement injuries have high mortality, but those patients, who manage to reach hospital alive, can sometimes be manages conservatively, as shown in our case report.