Background: Colon injuries are a major difficulty for trauma surgeons, particularly in conflict settings. The management and outcomes of colon injuries in Iraq have hardly been studied yet.
Objective: To investigate the incidence, management and outcomes of colon injuries in Iraqi patients presenting to a trauma center in Baghdad.
Methods: A retrospective study of 324 colon-injured patients treated at a Private Hospital in Baghdad between January 2019 and December 2023. Data was collected on demographics, mechanism of injury, injury severity scores, management, complications and outcomes. Established Protocols for Data Collection: * Initial instructions providing detailed information regarding the retrospective study were sent and on arrival in the hospital, the third author further guided the first two authors through the data formally recorded during the treatment of each individual patient. Our investigations reveal the following:
Results: The mean age of patients was 32.4 ± 14.2 years and 78.4% were male. Penetrating trauma was the cause of colon injury in 76.2% of presentations, with gunshot wounds the commonest mechanism (45.4%). The ascending colon was most commonly injured (28.7%). In overall treatment, 41.4% of patients had a primary repair, while 38.3% underwent resection and anastomosis. Overall mortality was 12.3% (n=40) with sepsis causing 67.5% of mortalities. Post-operative complications occurred in 34.6% of patients with surgical site infection being the most common (18.5%).
Conclusion: Colon injuries in Iraq were more predominant in young males from penetrating mechanisms. Early surgical intervention, and appropriate methods of colonic injury management were both shown to be important in clinical outcomes from colonic injuries. The high associated complication rates demonstrate that sustaining patient safety to most situations requires use of intervention protocols both in pre-operative and post-operative care, including infection control and prevention methods.
International Journal of Advanced Research in Medicine
