evaluation of the diagnostic value of peritoneal lavage test in intra abdominal injuries due to abdominal trauma and comparison with laparotomy and conservative treatment

introduction: prevalence of abdominal trauma is increasing during recent years. abdomen is the third most affected part of body by trauma. early diagnosis can help us select better methods for managing abdominal trauma. even though newer imaging techniques such as ct scan are available, abdominal trauma is still a complex matter, which every doctor in the emergency department has to deal with. physical examination for the evaluation of intra abdominal organ damage though impotant, is not enough. material and methods: this observational (cross-sectional) study was done over a period of 24 months (1999-2001). 135 patients (99male and 36 female) with abdominal trauma and no urgent laparotomy indication were included in this study. we calculated the sensitivity, specificity, positive&negative; predictive values of dpl test in our cases using spss software. results: mean age of patients was 28.6 years. all of the patients were evaluated with peritoneal lavage which resulted in 70 positive and 65 negative cases. all of the 70 cases with positive results were further evaluated with laparotomy of which 63 cases have intra peritoneal injuries that needed surgical treatment, while 7 cases didn’t have any intra peritoneal injuries (false positive results). all cases with negative results of peritoneal lavage test were treated conservatively for 3-5 days and during this period of time, 3 cases needed laparotomy and surgical treatment (false negative results). conclusion : according to the results of this study, sensitivity of peritoneal lavage test in diagnosis of abdominal trauma was 95.5% and specificity was 90%. negative predictive value of this test was 95.4% and positive predictive value of this test was 90%. thus, peritoneal lavage test in abdominal trauma is sensitive, specific and has high specificity. it is therefore advisable that after initial evaluation of all penetrating and blunt abdominal traumas, peritoneal lavage test should be performed.