Overview of abdominal trauma

[Vania]

The abdomen can be injured in many types of trauma; injury may be confined to the abdomen or be accompanied by severe, multisystem trauma. The nature and severity of abdominal injuries vary widely depending on the mechanism and forces involved, thus generalizations about mortality and need for operative repair tend to be misleading.
Injuries are often categorized by type of structure that is damaged:

Abdominal wall
Solid organ (liver, spleen, pancreas, kidneys)
Hollow viscus (stomach, small intestine, colon, ureters, bladder)
Vasculature

Some specific injuries due to abdominal trauma are discussed elsewhere, including those to the liver, spleen, and genitourinary tract.
(See also Approach to the Trauma Patient.)