Cholecystorrhaphy in a school child with a gallbladder perforation following blunt abdominal trauma: a case report.

Gallbladder injuries following blunt abdominal trauma commonly occurs when the liver or spleen is also injured.
Usually, a thin-walled normal distended gallbladder is injured when significant compression and shearing forces
are applied to the abdomen from motor vehicular crashes, falls from heights and direct blows to the abdomen. The
case of an 11-year-old male primary four pupil who sustained laceration of the gallbladder fundus and splenic
laceration involving the hilar vessels following a fall in which he landed on a wooden bench with his abdomen while
playing with a classmate was retrospectively reviewed. The diagnostic approach and treatment as well as relevant
literature were reviewed. Contrary to the more favoured cholecystectomy intervention, a simple absorbable suture
repair (cholecystorrhaphy) was done for the gallbladder laceration as it was intact within its bed in the liver. The
patient had a good recovery and has no record of cholelithiasis after 3 months of follow-up. We recommend that
cholecystorrhaphy should be done for simple lacerations of the gallbladder which is intact in its bed and that
surgeons should have a high index of suspicion for gallbladder injuries in blunt abdominal trauma associated with
liver and splenic injuries.