Figure It Out! The Answer
Several readers emailed the correct answer yesterday. The picture is a child with a bicycle handlebar injury to the epigastrium. The plastic grip over the end of the handlebar has a small hole in the middle leaving the distinctive mark seen in the photo.
Children are more likely to sustain significant injuries from this mechanism because they have little muscle in their abdominal wall, so it can’t protect as well as it does in adults. Everything between the handlebar and the spine gets crushed together, frequently resulting in serious injury.
Possible injuries include:
- Pancreatic injury / transection
- Liver laceration (left lobe)
- Duodenal injury / hematoma
- Retrohepatic vena cava injury
I’ve listed them in what I believe to be the usual order. The literature varies a bit because there aren’t a lot of series published. In this case, the injury was a pancreatic transection.
Bottom line: Handlebar injuries in children (and to a lesser degree, adults) are a significant marker for serious abdominal injury. CT scan is mandatory to find the diagnosis. Proper management of a pancreatic injury is a good topic for a future post!
