Features and outcomes of patients with grade IV renal injury

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical features and outcomes of patients who presented with grade IV renal trauma to our urban level I trauma hospital and to further refine the absolute indications for exploration and determine the outcomes of conservative management. PATIENTS AND METHODS In all, 77 patients with grade IV traumatic renal injuries presented to our emergency department between October 1997 and October 2006. A prospective trauma database including these patients was analysed to determine the patterns of injury, operative outcomes and complications. RESULTS A quarter of the patients had gunshot injuries, 9% had stab injuries, and 66% had blunt traumas. In all, 36% of patients required surgical exploration to treat associated non-urological injuries. There was no or microscopic haematuria in 29% of the patients. Of the 32 patients who underwent renal exploration, 63% (20/32) underwent renorrhaphy and 37% (12/32) underwent nephrectomy. In multivariate analyses, only gunshot injury, surgery for non-urological injury, and volume of blood transfused were significantly associated with the need for renal exploration (P = 0.015, P = 0.041, and P = 0.032, respectively). The renal complication rate was higher in patients managed conservatively vs those who underwent surgical exploration, but this was not statistically significantly different (28% vs 13%, P = 0.2). Hospital stay was longer after renal exploration than after conservative management at a median of 12 days vs 7 days (P = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS While almost all patients with penetrating injury require renal exploration, only 20% of those with blunt trauma do. Patients with no renal injuries and/or haemodynamic instability are more likely to require exploration. Finally, the rate of complications was not statistically different according to management type (conservative vs renal exploration).