A nearly 7-year-old boy, with no relevant past history, visited our emergency department with abdominal pain and swelling after a fall from his bike. Whilst riding his bike, he had fallen and his abdomen had landed on the handlebar. Immediately after the accident, his mother noticed a swelling where the handlebar had hit his abdomen. They visited the general practitioner on call who subsequently sent him to our emergency department. Apart from pain, he had no other complaints. On physical examination, he seemed to be not ill and he was haemodynamically stable. Examination of the abdomen showed a circular contusion of the skin several centimetres below the umbilicus just on the right of the midline (Fig. ). On palpation, a clear defect of the rectus fascia could be felt. There were no signs of peritonitis suggesting an enteral lesion. He was admitted for observation and discharged the following morning. He was scheduled for surgery 1 week later. During the operation, a skin-line incision was performed over the fascia defect, revealing a rupture of the musculus rectus abdominis, as well as a total rupture of the right rectus fascia (Fig. ). The rectus sheath was closed with a continuous Vicryl suture. The muscle defect was approximated with interrupted Vicryl sutures. The skin was closed intracutaneously. He was discharged the following day and recovered uneventfully.
A 23-year-old male presented with deceleration injury following an RTA. His hemodynamic parameters were within the normal range; he had a pulse of 80/min and a BP of 110/78 mm Hg. Examination revealed a soft abdomen. The FAST exam was positive, and a CT with oral and IV contrast revealed a completely devascularized spleen. The patient was conservatively managed and started on a liquid diet but developed abdominal pain with associated fever after a week. An exploratory laparotomy was done 8 days after injury, and a splenectomy was done for splenic infarction with abscess formation. He had an uneventful postoperative period and went home on postoperative day 7.