Penetrating Abdominal Inferior Vena Cava Injuries

Abdominal vascular injuries remain the most common cause of death following penetrating abdominal trauma. Inferior vena cava injuries are potentially devasting insults that continued to be associated with high mortality. Overall, patients with penetrating trauma had an average of 1.6 vascular injuries. The most commonly injured abdominal vessel was the IVC and it accounted for 25% of injuries, followed by the aorta (21%), the iliac arteries (20%), the iliac veins (17%), the SMV (11%), and the SMA (10%).