European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
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Diagnostic peritoneal lavage (DPL) is an accepted method for evaluating patients with suspected intra-abdominal injury, especially in those with blunt abdominal trauma for whom early operative intervention may be life-saving. To evaluate this method in blunt abdominal trauma victims, we prospectively studied 2010 patients with blunt abdominal trauma who underwent DPL between 1978 and 1996 in our emergency department (at the regional tertiary university medical centre). The patients were then divided into three groups based on their DPL results. ⋯ Complications related to DPL developed in 31 patients (1.5%) out of the 2010 undergoing DPL. It is evident from the results that DPL is a reliable method. However, the criteria for positive DPL should be re-assessed based on the fact that the method itself had a false positivity rate of 23.9% leading to unnecessary operations.