[Peritoneal lavage and blunt abdominal injuries in childhood].

Traffic accidents are increasingly responsible for mortality in childhood in Turkey. Between 1982 and 1984, 197 children were admitted for contused abdominal injuries to the surgical casualty ward at the School of Medicine of Istanbul University. Most of these children had been involved in traffic accidents, and peritoneal lavage was applied to all of them. The diagnosis on admission was confirmed by laparotomy in 90 per cent of all cases. 20 children died (10.1 per cent). Uncontrollable abdominal bleeding was the cause of ten deaths and massive brain lesion of another six.