Evolution of non‐operative management for blunt splenic trauma in children

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Abstract
Until the late 1960s, splenectomy was routinely performed in children who had sustained blunt splenic injury. There was based on the ability to perform splenectomy without obvious consequence; the cited 90-100% mortality for splenic trauma and the possibility of delayed rupture of the spleen. In contrast, contemporary findings in immunology and surgery demonstrated that non-operative management was not only feasible but desirable in view of the potential for overwhelming post-plenectomy infection. The history of universal splenectomy following blunt splenic trauma has been reviewed and we outline the findings that have resulted in the current standard of non-operative management following blunt splenic trauma.