Role of multi-detector computerized tomography in diagnosis of traumatic urinary bladder injuries

Urinary tract injuries occur in 3–10% of abdominal trauma. Early recognition and diagnosis of ruptured bladder is essential to lower this mortality rate. CT is the method of choice for the evaluation of patients with blunt or penetrating abdominal and/or pelvic trauma. Imaging in patients with suspected bladder injury with CT cystography may be performed using either an intravenous or retrograde technique. The aim was to evaluate the role of CT in diagnosing traumatic urinary bladder injuries. The study was carried out on 32 patients with suspected traumatic urinary bladder injury. All patients were subjected to contrast-enhanced CT study and classified according to Sandler et al. classification of urinary bladder injuries. All patients were classified according to the type of the encountered urinary bladder trauma. Type I injury was diagnosed in 3.1% of patients, type II in 18.8%, type III in 3.1%, type IVa in 12.5%, type IVb in 43.7% and type V in 18.8%. 21.8% of patients were managed conservatively, while 78.2% of patients underwent surgical repair. CECT well demonstrated traumatic urinary bladder injuries.