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Multi-institutional experience with penetrating pancreatic injuries in children

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Abstract

Purpose

Penetrating pancreatic injuries in children are uncommon and are not well described in the literature. We report a multi-institutional experience with penetrating pancreatic injuries in children.

Methods

A retrospective review of children sustaining penetrating pancreatic injuries was performed at eight pediatric trauma centers.

Results

Sixteen patients were identified. Eleven patients were male; (mean ± SE) age was 11.7 ± 1.2 years. The mechanism of injury was gun-shot wound in 14 patients and mean injury-severity score was 18 ± 3. All patients had associated injuries, most frequently small bowel injuries (n = 9). Patients had either grade I (n = 4), grade II (n = 7), or grade III (n = 4) injuries; there was a single grade V injury. All patients underwent exploratory celiotomy. Drainage of the injured pancreas was performed in 11 patients, and 2 patients underwent pancreatorrhaphy in addition to drainage; 3 underwent resection for grade III (n = 2) and grade V (n = 1) injuries. Thirteen patients required other intra-abdominal procedures. All patients required intensive care over a mean 11.0 ± 3.0 days. Mean duration of stay was 30.1 ± 5.6 days. Post-operative morbidity was 62.5 % with no mortalities.

Conclusions

Penetrating pancreatic injuries in children are uncommon and most often due to firearms. There is a high association with other injuries particularly hollow viscous perforation.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare they have no conflict of interest to disclose.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Children’s Mercy Hospitals and Clinics, 2401 Gillham Road, Kansas City, MO, 64108, USA

    Hanna Alemayehu, Shawn D. St. Peter & Corey W. Iqbal

  2. University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital, Houston, TX, USA

    Kuojen Tsao

  3. Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Mark L. Wulkan

  4. University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA

    Saleem Islam

  5. University of Alabama Birmingham, Birmingham, AL, USA

    Robert T. Russell

  6. Akron Children’s Hospital, Akron, OH, USA

    Todd A. Ponsky

  7. Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, WI, USA

    Daniel C. Cullinane

  8. Children’s Medical Center, Dallas, TX, USA

    Adam Alder

Authors
  1. Hanna Alemayehu
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  2. Kuojen Tsao
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  3. Mark L. Wulkan
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  4. Saleem Islam
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  5. Robert T. Russell
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  6. Todd A. Ponsky
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  7. Daniel C. Cullinane
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  8. Adam Alder
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  9. Shawn D. St. Peter
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  10. Corey W. Iqbal
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Corey W. Iqbal.

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Alemayehu, H., Tsao, K., Wulkan, M.L. et al. Multi-institutional experience with penetrating pancreatic injuries in children. Pediatr Surg Int 30, 1107–1110 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-014-3599-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00383-014-3599-2

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