RETROPERITONEAL rupture of the duodenum due to blunt abdominal trauma unassociated with injury to any of the intraperitoneal viscera is uncommon. This, and the fact that it is easy to miss a perforation in the retroperitoneal portion of the duodenum, might explain the high mortality in such patients. There is ample truth in Cocke's1 statement that such a lesion is a difficult one to handle and a dangerous one to mishandle. Two patients with such an injury have been recently treated at the Christian Medical College Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India, and it seems worthwhile to present these cases and review the subject.
Report of Cases
Case 1 (CMCH-285865).
—A 27-year-old woman was admitted with a 20-hour history of generalized abdominal pain, recurrent vomiting, and absolute constipation following blunt trauma to her right upper part of the abdomen sustained when she intervened in a fight between her husband and others.