Renal Trauma

Renal traumas are common, observed in 10% of patients with abdominal trauma. Most renal traumas are blunt, resulting from a direct hit or from an abrupt deceleration. We realized a synthesis of renal trauma management for nurses. Clinical presentation often encompasses gross hematuria and lumbar pain. The best diagnostic tool is computed tomography (CT) urogram. Based on CT urogram images, renal traumas are classified according to the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma (AAST) classification in five grades of increasing severity. The management is conservative in the vast majority of cases and has been largely simplified over the past few years, being now mostly based on observation. Radiological interventional and endoscopic procedures are used only in very selected cases and surgical exploration has become extremely rare. The prognosis has also considerably improved and renal trauma rarely result in death or loss of the kidney nowadays.