CONTEXT: Although relatively uncommon, traumatic pancreatic injury is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVE: To define the predictors' factors of increase in the morbidity and mortality in patients with pancreatic trauma. METHOD: In this casuistic 131 patients were studied, since January 1994 through December 2007, with theirs epidemiological, physiological and anatomic parameters compared and the analysis of the predictive values for the occurrence of bad evolution, with an appropriate statistical study. RESULTS: Penetrating trauma occurred in 64% and blunt trauma in 36%, and 91.6% was male. The mean age was 29,8 years. The global morbidity in this series was 64.9% with 29% prevalence of pancreas related complications, such as pancreatic fistula and bleeding occurrence. The overall mortality was 27.5% and occurred by hemorrhagic shock and multiple organs and system failed. CONCLUSIONS: Higher morbidity and mortality was related with complex injuries of the pancreas (grade IV and V), but morbidity and mortality in the group of injuries grade I and II are not minimal in patients with changed values of revised trauma score and high values of injury severity score and abdominal trauma index. Systolic blood pressure lower 90 mm Hg, changed values of revised trauma score index, values of injury severity score higher 15 and values of abdominal trauma index higher 25 are predictive factors of morbidity. Changed values of revised trauma score, values of injury severity score or abdominal trauma index higher 25, systolic blood pressure are predictive factors of mortality in patients with pancreatic trauma. Low values of TRISS are predictive of higher morbidity and mortality, but high values of TRISS are not predictives of satisfactory evolution.
Pancreas; injuries; Trauma severity indices
