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Multiple Choice

Which statement about signs of intraabdominal injury is NOT true?

Abdominal signs of intraabdominal injury are often unreliable early and can be delayed or non-specific. Distention is one of the late signs, and the amount of intraabdominal bleeding does not reliably predict when distention will appear. In practice, you can have substantial intraperitoneal hemorrhage with little or no abdominal distention initially, and conversely, distention may occur without a large amount of bleeding depending on factors like the injury location, body habitus, and timing. Therefore the idea that a significant amount of blood loss must occur before distention is noticed is not a dependable rule, making that statement not true.

Abdominal signs of intraabdominal injury are often unreliable early and can be delayed or non-specific. Distention is one of the late signs, and the amount of intraabdominal bleeding does not reliably predict when distention will appear. In practice, you can have substantial intraperitoneal hemorrhage with little or no abdominal distention initially, and conversely, distention may occur without a large amount of bleeding depending on factors like the injury location, body habitus, and timing. Therefore the idea that a significant amount of blood loss must occur before distention is noticed is not a dependable rule, making that statement not true.