Review article Approach and Management of Traumatic Retroperitoneal Injuries § Patrizio Petrone, a,b, * Cristina Magada ´n A ´ lvarez, a D’Andrea Joseph, a Lee Cartagena, a Fahd Ali, a Collin E.M. Brathwaite a a Department of Surgery, NYU Winthrop Hospital, Mineola, Long Island, New York, United States b Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain c i r e s p . 2 0 1 8 ; 9 6 ( 5 ) : 2 5 0 – 2 5 9 article info Article history: Received 12 December 2017 Accepted 27 February 2018 Available online 18 May 2018 Keywords: Retroperitoneum Trauma Prevalence Injuries Diagnosis Management Treatment a b s t r a c t Traumatic retroperitoneal injuries constitute a challenge for trauma surgeons. They usually occur in the context of a trauma patient with multiple associated injuries, in whom invasive procedures have an important role in the diagnosis of these injuries. The retroperitoneum is the anatomical region with the highest mortality rates, therefore early diagnosis and treatment of these lesions acquire special relevance. The aim of this study is to present current published scientific evidence regarding incidence, mechanism of injury, diagnostic methods and treatment through a review of the international literature from the last 70 years. In conclusion, this systematic review showed an increasing trend toward non- surgical management of retroperitoneal injuries. # 2018 AEC. Published by Elsevier Espan ˜ a, S.L.U. All rights reserved. Abordaje y manejo de las lesiones retroperitoneales trauma ´ ticas Palabras clave: Retroperitoneo Traumatismo Prevalencia Lesiones Diagno ´ stico r e s u m e n Las lesiones trauma ´ ticas retroperitoneales constituyen un desafı´o para el cirujano de traumatologı´a. Ocurren generalmente en el contexto de un paciente politraumatizado, con mu ´ ltiples lesiones asociadas y en el que los procedimientos invasivos tienen un rol preponderante en el diagno ´ stico de estas lesiones. El retroperitoneo es la regio ´n anato ´ mica que presenta mayores tasas de mortalidad, por lo que el diagno ´ stico precoz y tratamiento de estas lesiones adquiere especial relevancia. El objetivo de este trabajo es presentar la § Please cite this article as: Petrone P, Magada ´n A ´ lvarez C, Joseph D, Cartagena L, Ali F, Brathwaite CEM. Abordaje y manejo de las lesiones retroperitoneales trauma ´ ticas. Cir Esp. 2018;96:250–259. * Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: patrizio.petrone@gmail.com, ppetrone@nyuwinthrop.org (P. Petrone). CIRUGI ´ A ESPAN ˜ OLA www.elsevier.es/cirugia 2173-5077/ # 2018 AEC. Published by Elsevier Espan ˜ a, S.L.U. All rights reserved.