Pattern of Abdominal Stab Injury in a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria

Background: Abdominal stab injury is a type of penetrating abdominal injury. The management may be operative or non-operative. Objectives: To determine the pattern, treatment options and outcome in injuries. Methods: This was retrospective study carried out over 4 years between January 2014 December 2017, at University Benin Teaching Hospital, City, Nigeria. Patients aged 18 above formed population. case files patients were retrieved from medical record. information obtained included age, gender, to arrival time (IAT), weapon, sustained, clinical symptoms signs, surgical intervention (SIT), surgery out, findings complications. Results: Overall, there 34 made up 30 (88.2%) males (11.8%) females with male female ratio 7.5:1. mean age 30±8.9 range 17-50 years. (IAT) 2.0±1.6 hours; (SIT) 5.9±5.6 hours. Twenty (58.8%) had laparotomy while 14 (41.2%) successfully managed non-operatively. Post-operative complications site infection (SSI), entrance wound infection, intra-peritoneal abscess intestinal obstruction. There no mortality. Conclusion: predominant among can by method non-operative absence significant visceral Selective effective avoiding unnecessary more than one-third cases.