INTESTINAL TRAUMA

Introduction: intestinal injuries, mainly in the small bowel, occur due to blunt or penetrating trauma, with greater severity in the latter. Rapid assessment is crucial to improve prognosis due to the physical and ischemic damage that compromises intestinal viability. Objective: to detail current information related to intestinal trauma, etiology, pathophysiology, epidemiology, evaluation, treatment, complications and care. Methodology: a total of 32 articles were analyzed in this review, including review and original articles, as well as clinical cases, of which 21 bibliographies were used because the other articles were not relevant to this study. The sources of information were PubMed, Google Scholar and Cochrane; the terms used to search for information in Spanish, Portuguese and English were: intestinal trauma, abdominal trauma, penetrating abdominal trauma, abdominal contusion, surgical emergencies. Results: the diagnosis of intestinal injuries follows a protocol that includes anamnesis, physical examination and studies such as radiography, FAST ultrasound, tomography and laparoscopy, the latter useful to avoid unnecessary laparotomies. Management depends on hemodynamic stability: stable patients with closed trauma are observed, while unstable patients require laparotomy; in penetrating injuries, surgery is urgent in unstable patients and conservative management is an option in stable patients. Primary repair is used in minor injuries, and early postoperative enteral nutrition improves recovery and reduces complications. Conclusions: Traumatic bowel injuries present a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge because of their clinical variety and complications. Rapid assessment with studies and protocols guide management, where surgery is key in unstable patients, and early enteral nutrition improves postoperative outcomes, with hemodynamic stability and timely diagnosis being fundamental for prognosis. Keywords: trauma, bowel, evaluation, surgery, nutrition.