Pancreatic injury
A pancreatic injury is some form of trauma sustained by the pancreas. The injury can be sustained through either blunt forces, such as a motor vehicle accident, or penetrative forces, such as that of a gunshot wound. The pancreas is one of the least commonly injured organs in abdominal trauma.
Management
Diagnosis
The diagnosis of this form of injury can be challenging because of the pancreas' location inside the abdomen. The use of ultrasound can reveal fluid around the site of injury. Computed tomography can also be utilized as a non-invasive diagnostic tool, but its reliability is low; one retrospective case review found that computed tomography had either failed to find injuries or had underestimated the severity of injury in more than half of 17 pancreatic injury patients. Serum amylase has also been shown to be of limited diagnostic utility within the first three hours following injury. Management of a pancreatic injury can be difficult because other abdominal organs, such as the liver, usually have sustained trauma as well. Several common symptoms manifest hours after the injury such as tachycardia, abdominal distension, and midepigastric tenderness. Indications for surgical intervention include: peritonitis based on physical examination; hypotension in combination with a positive focussed assessment with sonography for trauma ; and pancreatic duct disruption based on the results of thin-cut computed tomography or endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. Commonly, a laparotomy is done in order to directly visualize the injury, and generally this approach is the most accurate diagnostic method.Classification
Pancreatic injuries are classified according to the criteria of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma. The grade of the trauma should be increased by one level for multiple injuries to the same organ. The description of the injury is that "based on most accurate assessment at autopsy, laparotomy, or radiological study." The pancreatic organ injury scale, as minimally modified, is:| Grade | Subcapsular hematoma | Laceration |
| I | Minor contusion without ductal injury | Superficial laceration without ductal injury |
| II | Major contusion without duct injury or tissue loss | Major laceration without duct injury or tissue loss |
| III | Distal transection or parenchymal injury with duct injury | |
| IV | Proximal transection or parenchymal injury, involving ampulla | |
| V | Laceration-Massive disruption of pancreatic head |