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One hundred consecutive patients with penetrating duodenal injuries were reviewed retrospectively to analyze the results of various methods of treatment. The severity of the abdominal injury was quantified by the Penetrating Abdominal Trauma Index (PATI). The overall mortality was 25%. Sixteen per cent of the deaths were related to extensive associated organ injury, eight per cent to sepsis, and one per cent to concurrent head trauma. Duodenal fistulas occurred in four per cent and were associated with mortality in two per cent. The complications of duodenal fistula, abdominal sepsis, and mortality from sepsis were significantly higher in those patients treated by repair and decompressive enterostomy with or without a serosal patch than in those with repair or resection. The severity of duodenal and associated organ injuries, as well as the clinical status, were similar in both groups. It is concluded that the majority of duodenal injuries from penetrating trauma may be treated effectively by primary repair, and that the use of decompressive enterostomy or serosal patch appears to contribute to an increased morbidity rate.

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