Introduction: Violence has become part and parcel of the daily routine of living in South Africa. This prospective study of 78 patients who sustained abdominal gunshot wounds was undertaken to evaluate the pattern of injuries, treatment outcome and the role of selective conservative management.
Patients and methods: All patients with abdominal gunshot wounds admitted into the accident and emergency department of Prince Mshyeni Memorial Hospital (PMMH) between January 2005 and June 2005 were included in this prospective study. Case notes were reviewed and data entered on a standard proforma by a single observer (IC).
Results: A total of 78 patients who sustained abdominal gunshot wounds were included in the study. There were 68 males and 10 females with an age range of 16-60 years (median age, 25 years). Of these, 59 (76%) underwent emergency laparotomy and 19 (24%) were initially observed. Two patients in the observed group needed a delayed laparotomy, both with positive findings. Fifty-five (71%) patients had one entrance wound each and 23 (29%) had multiple entrance wounds. Forty-one (53%) patients had exit wounds and in 37 (47%) the bullet remained lodged in the body. The entrance wounds were in anterior abdominal wall in 50 patients, posterior trunk in 13, gluteal region in 11 and thorax in 4 patients, respectively. Twelve patients died, all from the emergency laparotomy group. There were two negative laparotomies from the laparotomy group.
Conclusions: Management of gunshot wounds is expensive and requires a variety of surgical skills. We recommend that a national database to which all gunshot wounds must be reported is required in order to assess the magnitude of the problem nationally as well as funding of research in injury control. This study along with many others shows that selective conservative management is feasible without the use of expensive investigations.