Non-operative versus operative treatment for blunt pancreatic trauma in children

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BACKGROUND: Pancreatic trauma in children is a serious condition with high morbidity. Blunt traumatic pancreatic lesions in children can be treated non-operatively or operatively. For less severe, grade I and II, blunt pancreatic trauma a non-operative or conservative approach is usually employed. Currently, the optimal treatment, of whether to perform operative or non-operative treatment of severe, grade III to V, blunt pancreatic injury in children is unclear.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the benefits and harms of operative versus non-operative treatment of blunt pancreatic trauma in children.

SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Injuries Group's Specialised Register, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Issue 5, 2013), MEDLINE (OvidSP), EMBASE (OvidSP), ISI Web of Science (SCI-EXPANDED and CPCI-S) and ZETOC. In addition, we searched bibliographies of relevant articles, conference proceeding abstracts and clinical trials registries. We conducted the search on the 21 June 2013.

SELECTION CRITERIA: We planned to select all randomised clinical trials investigating non-operative versus operative treatment of blunt pancreatic trauma in children, irrespective of blinding, publication status or language of publication.

DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We used relevant search strategies to obtain the titles and abstracts of studies that were relevant for the review. Two review authors independently assessed trial eligibility.

MAIN RESULTS: The search found 83 relevant references. We excluded all of the references and found no randomised clinical trials investigating treatment of blunt pancreatic trauma in children.

AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: This review shows that strategies regarding non-operative versus operative treatment of severe blunt pancreatic trauma in children are not based on randomised clinical trials. We recommend that multi-centre trials evaluating non-operative versus operative treatment of paediatric pancreatic trauma are conducted to establish firm evidence in this field of medicine.

Original languageEnglish
JournalCochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
Volume2
Pages (from-to)CD009746
ISSN1361-6137
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2014

    Research areas

  • Child, Humans, Pancreas, Wounds, Nonpenetrating

ID: 137668575