[Seat belt syndrome: a new abdominal pathology].

Between January 1976 and December 1980, 43 patients involved in automobile accidents while wearing passive restraints were treated at l'Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur in Montreal. Thirty-seven showed signs of abdominal trauma and were operated upon. There was a strikingly high incidence of gastrointestinal injury. Thirty-two of the 37 had injury to the bowel or its mesentery. This spectrum of injury is most likely related to the rapid deceleration caused by the restraint with the three-point harness.