Faculty Bibliography

Pancreatic injury is an uncommon event often difficult to diagnose at an early stage. After abdominal trauma, the surgeon must always be aware of the possibility of pancreatic trauma due to the complications associated with missed pancreatic injuries. Due to its retroperitoneal position, asociated organs and vascular injuries are almost always present, which along with frequent extra abdominal injuries explain the high morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to present a concise description of the incidence of these injuries, lesional mechanisms, recommended diagnostic methods, therapeutic indications including nonoperative management, endoscopy and surgery, and an analysis of pancreas-specific complications and mortality rates in these patients based on a 60-year review of the literature, encompassing 6,364 patients. Due to pancreatic retroperitoneal position, asociated organs and vascular injuries are almost always present, which along with frequent extraaabdominal injuries explain the high morbidity and mortality of these patients.

Perineal injuries are uncommon, but not rare. They may present a wide variety of injury patterns which demand an accurate diagnostic assessment and treatment. Perineal injuries may occur as isolated injuries to the soft tissues or may be associated with pelvic organ, abdominal or even lower extremity injury. Hence the importance to know in depth not only the anatomy of the perineum and its organs, but also the implications of the patient's hemodynamic stability on the decision making process when treating these injuries using established trauma guidelines. The purpose of this review is to describe the current epidemiology and clinical presentation of perineal injuries in order to provide specific guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of both stable and unstable patients.

Duodenal injuries constitute a challenge to the Trauma Surgeon, mainly due to their retroperitoneal location. When identified, they present associated with other abdominal injuries. Consequently, they have an increased morbidity and mortality. At best estimates, duodenal lesions occur in 4.3% of all patients with abdominal injuries, ranging from 3.7% to 5%, and because of their anatomical proximity to other organs, they are rarely an isolated injury. The aim of this paper is to present a concise description of the anatomy, diagnosis, surgical management and treatment of complications of duodenal trauma, and an analysis of complications and mortality rates of duodenal injuries based on a 46-year review of the literature.