EXPERIMENTAL VISCERAL ARTERIOGRAPHY IN BLUNT ABDOMINAL TRAUMA

¹ Professor of Radiology
² Associate Professor of Surgery
³ Chief Resident, Department of Radiology
⁴ Resident, Department of General Surgery

Selective visceral arteriography, performed in 30 dogs before and after controlled injuries to abdominal viscera, demonstrated a variety of angiographic patterns, some of which were characteristic of the injury responsible. Active bleeding was displayed on numerous occasions, and lacerations and subserosal and subcapsular hematomas were accurately shown. Vascular occlusions, whether arterial or venous, produced angiographic changes which permitted accurate diagnosis, but hematomas in the mesentery, bursting injuries of the bowel with little active bleeding and small contusions and hematomas of the solid viscera produced few characteristic findings and were for the most part impossible to diagnose.

The place of selective visceral angiography in the evaluation of patients with blunt abdominal injuries is uncertain at present. That many of these injuries can be accurately and completely diagnosed by vascular contrast studies is without doubt. The value of a negative angiographic survey of the abdomen is less certain. This study may serve as a basis for further investigations and for selected clinical applications.

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