Abdominal injuries in children at Muhimbili Medical Centre Dar es Salaam.

Fifty two consecutive children with abdominal trauma who were admitted and managed at the Paediatric Surgical Unit (PSU) of Muhimbili Medical Centre (MMC) between January 1987 and December 1990 were studied. There were 35 boys and 17 girls with ages ranging from 1 year to 11 years. Most of the children came from the mostly populated areas of Dar es Salaam. The commonest causes of injury were traffic accidents (57.7%), followed by falls (32.7%). All patients due to traffic motor accidents were pedestrians except two. Forty (77%) patients had blunt abdominal injuries while 12 (23%) patients had penetrating abdominal injuries. Of these patients with peritoneal penetration only two had significant vascular injury. All patients presented with specific signs of abdominal trauma. The commonest specific organ injured was the spleen followed by the liver. The mortality was 7.6%. Associated injuries were noted in 32.6% of the cases.