Blunt solid organ injury: do adult and pediatric surgeons treat children differently?

BACKGROUND: The management of blunt solid organ injury (SOI) in children may differ depending on the treating facility. These differences, however, may not reflect the individual surgeon's treatment philosophy. To investigate differences in management, adult and pediatric surgeons were presented the same hypothetical pediatric trauma "patient" and asked a series of treatment questions.

METHODS: By using an internet-based survey, members of American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Eastern Association of the Surgery of Trauma were invited to participate anonymously. Surgeons who "never or rarely saw children" and those who "would transfer the patient to another facility" were excluded. Demographic, educational, and practice data were collected. Scenarios of increasing complexity were presented with CT images (isolated SOI, multiple SOI, and SOI with intracranial hemorrhage [ICH]). For each scenario, respondents were asked if they would initially manage the patient nonoperatively, pursue angiography, or operate. Scenarios were repeated with the addition of a CT "blush." For patients managed nonoperatively, respondents were asked their transfusion threshold needed to operate. Responses were compared using exact chi tests and risk ratios.

RESULTS: Two hundred eighty-one surgeons (114 pediatric, 167 adult) were included. For all scenarios, adult surgeons were more likely to operate or pursue embolization than their pediatric colleagues (RR: 8.6 SOI, 14.8 multiple SOI, 17.9 SOI with ICH). Adult surgeons were also more likely to consider any transfusion a failure (13.3% vs. 1.2%, p < 0.01) and had a much lower transfusion threshold.

CONCLUSION: When presented with the identical clinical scenario, adult trauma surgeons are less likely than pediatric surgeons to pursue nonoperative management of pediatric solid organ injuries and are more conservative in their willingness to transfuse.