Objective:

To establish the prevalence of diaphragmatic, thoracic and abdominal injuries associated with penetrating thoracoabdominal trauma.

Method:

Retrospective chart review of all admitted patients with penetrating thoracoabdominal trauma who required surgical management at the University Hospital of Santander during a 12- month period. A descriptive analysis of the findings using measures of central tendency and dispersion for quantitative variables and proportions with confidence intervals for qualitative variables was made.

Results:

Of the 112 patients included, 91,3% were admitted with injuries from sharp weapons, 60% of the wounds were on the left and 66% were below the 8th intercostal space. Some type of organ damage was reported in 34% of the patients and 27,6% had a diaphragmatic injury. The most frequently intraabdominal injured organ was liver (9,8%), followed by spleen (6,25%) and colon (6,25%).

Discussion and conclusions:

The most frequently affected thoracoabdominal area was the posterior left, however, the highest prevalence of diaphragmatic injury was found in the anterior left area. The risk of diaphragmatic injury in the anterior left area was 10 times greater than in the posterior right area and almost doubled the risk of the posterior left region. There was no statistically significant difference between the anterior left area and the anterior right area. Solid viscus injuries are most common in the abdominal cavity.