Inferior vena cava injuries - a clinical review

Inferior vena caval (IVC) injuries are uncommon and challenging to treat. Less than 5% of patients with penetrating abdominal trauma and less than 0.5% of patients with blunt abdominal trauma have this injury. Patient can present with intraperitoneal haemorrhage or with a contained retroperitoneal haematoma. Mostly it is associated with other abdominal structures injuries. Most commonly injured segment is infrarenal IVC. Operative strategy is different for each segment of injured vein. Infrahepatic injuries are exposed by medial visceral rotation. Retrohepatic and suprahepatic injuries need infrequent exposures. Mortality remains high and range between 31-51% for the patient brought alive to the operative room. Glasgow coma scale, level of injury, haemodynamic status at presentation and free blood in the peritoneal cavity are some of the predictive factors for mortality in these patients.