In this study, the eighty cases of blunt abdominal trauma that underwent surgery at Hacettepe University Medical School's Children's Hospital, from 1967 to 1974 have been analyzed and clinical outcome has been discussed.

There has been an increase in the incidence of blunt trauma of the abdomen during the last four years of this study, and the most frequent cause of trauma is traffic accidents. The majority of the patients being boys and the most often involved age group is four to six years. It was demonstrated that in blunt trauma of the abdomen the main symptoms are abdominal pain and vomiting; on physical examination abdominal tenderness and muscle guarding are the most often seen findings. Paracentesis is a rather good diagnostic test since cases in whom the test was performed, in 91.5 % correct result was obtained.

In our series of blunt trauma of the abdomen cases, the spleen was injured most often, then in order of frequency, retroperitoneal hematoma and gastrointestinal tract injury. Two of the five patients died from extra-abdominal causes.