• OBJECTIVE
    • To determine the common features of small bowel injury (SBI) in childhood and the consequences of delayed diagnosis.
  • METHODOLOGY
    • A retrospective case review was performed of children with traumatic SBI between January 1988 and November 1999.
  • RESULTS
    • Twenty-eight patients were identified with SBI. Road trauma accounted for 71% of them. Tachycardia was present on admission in 82% of patients with SBI including all but one of the intestinal perforations. SBI was associated with a Chance fracture of the lumbar spine in three patients (11%). An abdominal computed tomography scan with intravenous contrast was abnormal in all patients with a perforation or mesenteric tear. Diagnosis was delayed in six patients, one of whom died as a result of sepsis from a small bowel perforation.
  • CONCLUSIONS
    • Persistent tachycardia with an appropriate mechanism of injury following blunt abdominal trauma requires active exclusion of SBI. Delayed diagnosis is associated with significant morbidity and mortality.