Lower urinary tract injuries in patients with pelvic fractures at a level 1 trauma center–an 11-year experience

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Background: Urological injuries can occur in patients with pelvic fractures. Treatment recommendations lack solid evidence and is often pragmatical. There is a continuous need to describe short- and long-term morbidity following lower urinary tract trauma. Objective: To describe incidence, diagnosis, treatment, and morbidity following lower urinary tract injuries in pelvic fractures. Patients and methods: Retrospective study including patients with pelvic, including acetabular, fractures admitted to a Level I Trauma Centre covering 2.8 million citizens between 2009 and 2020. Outcome measurements comprised primary management, treatment trajectory, short- and long-term complications and outcomes. Results: A total of 39 (5%) patients with pelvic fractures had concomitant urethral and/or bladder injuries, and one patient with an acetabular fracture had a bladder injury. The management of urethral injuries varied vastly, and complete urethral ruptures were associated with severe short- and long-term complications. Only one patient with bladder injury experienced severe long-term complications. Conclusions: Management of lower urinary tract injuries in patients with major pelvic fractures remains a major challenge. Special attention should be focused on urethral injuries where we uncovered an unsystematic treatment and follow-up even in a highly experienced centre, although this is also attributed to complicated multidisciplinary patient trajectories. There is a continuous need to reduce long-term complications following urethral trauma which should be addressed in multicenter studies.

Original languageEnglish
JournalScandinavian Journal of Urology
Volume57
Issue number1-6
Pages (from-to)102-109
ISSN2168-1805
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Acta Chirurgica Scandinavica Society.

    Research areas

  • bladder, lower urinary tract, Pelvic fracture, trauma, urethra

ID: 338357467