ABDOMEN INJURIES
Abdominal injuries are one of the most common conditions we see in the practice of emergency medicine. Within injuries, it is very important to distinguish the following terms:
-injury mechanism
-clinical picture
- the manner of treating the injury and the consequences if not acted upon in a timely manner
The mechanism of injury describes the manner in which the injury occurred. According to the type of force that acts on a certain surface, ie the abdomen, we distinguish between blunt and sharp injuries. Blunt abdominal injuries include those caused by falls from a bicycle, blows to the abdomen in a fight and all those that do not lead to the opening of the abdominal cavity. Sharp injuries are caused by the force of a sharp object, such as a knife stab, such as a knife stab, and such injuries cause the abdomen to open. The danger that lurks behind every injury is bleeding, which in the case of blunt injuries is hidden inside the abdominal cavity, and in the case of sharp injuries - blood comes out of the abdomen. This step is the most important in making a diagnosis by healthcare professionals.
The clinical picture represents all the symptoms that occur in the context of an abdominal injury. The first symptom that indicates the danger of injury is pain. The existence of pain indicates that a certain pathological process is taking place in the body, and that is also an alarm that something needs to be done. In addition to the pain itself, other symptoms may occur. What is very important to recognize is vomiting of blood, blood in the stool, blood in the urine that could indicate an injury to the internal organs. The absence of these symptoms should not be a decisive factor in the assessment because it takes some time for some injuries to develop a clinical picture, especially for blunt injuries. What can be useful in such conditions is to distinguish whether the abdominal wall is soft or firm to the touch with the hand. Normally in a healthy person, the abdominal wall is soft and painless to the touch.
The treatment of abdominal injuries differs in blunt and sharp injuries. In blunt injuries, it consists of timely transport and ultrasound control. In the case of puncture wounds in the abdomen, a foreign body should NEVER be removed from the puncture canal because it stops bleeding with its presence in the canal and pressure.