RENAL TRAUMA, BASED ON A SERIES OF 30 CAS ES

Renal trauma remains a topical subject due to its high incidence and t he fact that it still raises therapeutic problems. The features of thi s disease were reviewed by means of a retrospective study of 30 cases of renal trauma observed over a 10-year period. The patients consisted of 27 males (90%) and 3 females (10%), with a mean age of 27 years (r ange: 20 to 60 years). The aetiology was largely dominated by road acc idents (53%), falls (26%) and assaults (16%). Trauma was unilateral, p redominantly affecting the left side (60%). The clinical features were dominated by haematuria (93%) and low back pain (90%). Trauma was ass ociated with skeletal or visceral lesions in 46.6% of patients. Assess ment of the lesions was based on IVU, ultrasonography and CT. Eight pa tients (26.6%) presented with moderate or minimal trauma (Chatelain st age 1 and 2) and were treated medically. Twenty-two patients (73%) wer e operated: 6 of them underwent total nephrectomy and 16 were treated conservatively. Seven of the operated patients subsequently developed complications.