Renal trauma: a 5-year retrospective review in single institution

Background: Renal trauma occurs in up to 5% of all trauma cases and accounts for 24% of abdominal solid organ injuries. Renal trauma management has evolved over the past decades, and current management is transitioning toward more conservative approaches for the majority of hemodynamically stable patients. The objective of this study was to analyze the mechanism of injury, management, and outcome in renal trauma. Methods: Patients diagnosed with renal trauma in Makassar, Indonesia, from January 2014 to December 2018 were identifed retrospectively by the ICD-10 code. Data were collected from medical records. Imaging was classifed by radiologists. Variables analyzed included age, sex, mechanism of injury, degree of renal trauma, related organ injury, management, and outcome. Results: Out of the 68 patients identifed, the average age was 23.9±0.6 years, and most were male (83.8%). Blunt trauma accounted for 89.7% of all cases. The most common renal injuries were grade IV (42.6%), and 14% of the cases had no hematuria. Most patients were treated with non-operative management (NOM). Nephrectomy was performed in 16.2% of cases, and 5.9% of cases underwent renorrhaphy. It was found that 58.8% of cases had isolated renal trauma, and the overall mortality rate (2.9%) was due to related injuries. Conclusions: The majority of blunt and penetrating renal trauma cases that are hemodynamically stable have a good outcome when treated with NOM. The presence of injury in other important organs both intra- and extra abdominally aggravates the patient’s condition and afects the prognosis.