Latest progress of research on acute abdominal injuries

Major abdominal trauma, both blunt and penetrating, is commonly seen nowadays, being particularly difficult to manage due to the frequent altered mental status of the patients and severity of associated injuries. The review article aims to make an uptodate study of the current strategies for therapeutic approach of abdominal injuries in polytrauma setting. Review of the medical literature is up to 2015, by using the PubMed/Medline, Science Direct, Cochrane Library and Web of Science databases. We have used different combinations of the keywords of “abdominal trauma”, “liver”, “spleen”, “renal”, to review the reference list of retrieved articles for further relevant studies. Nowadays, we are facing a major change in abdominal trauma therapeutic approach, due to the continuous extending indications and very high successful rate of selective nonoperative management, completed or not with minimally invasive techniques like angiography and angiographic embolization. New imaging methods offer a high-quality characterization of solid organ injuries, being a secure support for decision algorithm in polytrauma patients. After a continuous decrease in number of laparotomies for trauma, new techniques should be developed for maintaining and developing the trauma surgeons' skills. According to the current standards, for a low morbidity and mortality, the trauma patients may be approached by a multidisciplinary and experienced trauma team. Even if nonoperative management is continuously expanding, this may be applied only by a trained and skillful trauma surgeon, who is able to perform difficult surgical techniques at any moments.