Duodenal transection without pancreatic injury following blunt abdominal trauma

With the inventions of faster cars and even more faster motorbikes there is a worldwide increase in road traffic accidents, which has increased the incidence of blunt abdominal trauma but still duodenal injury following a blunt abdominal trauma is uncommon and can pose a formidable challenge to the surgeon and failure to manage it properly can result in devastating results. It may typically occur in isolation or with pancreatic injury. Here, we report a case of an isolated transection of the third part of the duodenum with normal pancreas following a blunt abdominal trauma. The initial clinical changes in isolated duodenal injury may be extremely subtle before life-threatening, peritonitis develops. Hence, a high index of suspicion, on the basis of mechanism of injury and physical examination is the key in early detection of duodenal injury especially in a rural hospital like ours where the facilities for computed tomography scan are not available.