In most cases this injury will not have been caused by a car accident however there is a significant proportion that is a direct result of motor vehicle collisions. Road traffic accidents are a major cause of traumatic injury and represent more than half of all cases handled by personal injury solicitors. If you have been injured in a car accident and you want to make a compensation claim for personal injury and loss just complete the contact form, email our offices or use the solicitor’s helpline. Our car accident compensation claim solicitors offer free advice without further obligation. If we deal with your claim it will be on a no win no fee basis, compensation is paid in full and you do not have to fund or finance your car accident compensation claim.
Bladder rupture or other bladder injuries can be due to penetrating trauma or to blunt trauma to the bladder. A full bladder is more likely to sustain an injury than an empty bladder. Bladder trauma used to be uniformly fatal; however, advances in medical technology and surgery can prevent morbidity and mortality from this injury. One needs an early clinical suspicion of bladder injury and use the appropriate studies for the problem in order to treat it with a minimum of morbidity and mortality.
Bladder rupture or penetration is usually secondary to pelvic trauma and can be due to a bladder injury from a motor vehicle accident (with a steering wheel or lap belt), deceleration injuries, such as a fall from a great height, an assault on the lower abdomen, and penetrating injuries due to stab wounds, gunshot wounds or surgical injuries to the uterus or pelvic area.
In blunt trauma, there are usually pelvic injuries and pelvic fractures as well. About ten percent of pelvic fractures also yield significant bladder injuries. A full bladder causes more problems than an empty bladder. Penetrating injuries are most often from a stabbing injury or from a gunshot wound although the rate of puncture wound from a hysterectomy is around 3 percent. Forceps injuries or necrosis to the bladder can occur during childbirth and direct laceration of the bladder during a cesarean section occurs in 0.3 percent of cases. Previous cesarean births increase this risk because the person has a great amount of scarring between the bladder tissue and pelvic tissue. A bladder injury can occur during a normal bladder biopsy with an incidence as high as 36 percent. Orthopedic trauma can commonly perforate the bladder, especially with internal fixation of the pelvic fracture. When orthopedists set the cement of substances used to adhere arthroplasty prosthetics, they can inadvertently damage the bladder via a thermal injury. In cases of alcoholics who take in a great deal of alcohol, there can be rupture of the bladder when they pass out and fail to void. A simple fall with a distended bladder can cause bladder injury.
The causes of bladder rupture or injury are 82 percent due to external trauma, 14 percent due to iatrogenic or doctor-related reasons, 3 percent due to intoxication and less than one percent unknown. Of all bladder traumatic injuries, 60-85 percent are due to blunt trauma and 15-40 percent are due to penetrating injuries. Motor vehicle accidents are the most common cause of bladder injury but falls and assaults cause less than 10 percent apiece. Gunshot wounds are the most common cause of penetrating traumas (85 percent), followed by stabbing injuries (15 percent). Pelvic fractures are also associated with urethral trauma in up to 10 to 25 percent of cases. Bladder rupture can be associated with these injuries as well.
Bladders can simply be contused in a blunt trauma, obstetric or traumatic especially. This can result in a local hematoma and can cause blood in the urine with or without a rupture or puncture wound. These are relatively benign injuries when not associated with a rupture or puncture of the bladder. Some ruptures are extraperitoneal, especially those associated with a pelvic fracture. It is usually due to a direct burst injury or to a shear force injury and not to a puncture of the bladder by fragments of bone in the traumatic injury. Intraperitoneal bladder ruptures are usually big horizontal tears in the dome of the bladder. It is caused by a sudden increase in pressure of the bladder such as injuring oneself with a full bladder. It may take days to weeks to diagnose this kind of rupture because the intraperitoneal space can handle a lot of liquid before it becomes noticeable.
The diagnosis of bladder puncture or bladder rupture can be a cystogram that can look at the bladder wall carefully with a camera. A cystogram can also use dye inside the bladder and can show extravasation of dye into the Intraperitoneal or extraperitoneal space. If the rupture is intraperitoneal, the dye will show up as outlining the bowels or intestines. Extraperitoneal ruptures are seen as dye showing up in the extraperitoneal space.
The treatment of bladder rupture or a bladder puncture is to put in a Foley catheter and allow the bladder to heal in an empty phase. Then the bladder catheter is clamped after several weeks or months and the bladder is allowed to increase in size with urine until the bladder drains effectively. It can truly take many months for the bladder to heal. Surgery can close the bladder defect in severe cases of bladder rupture. The bladder wall is very delicate and the surgery is difficult to do.
If you have suffered physically, mentally or financially, you should consider making an accident compensation claim. For free telephone advice from specialist personal injury solicitors just call the helpline. Our lawyers will assess the strength of your claim and will advise you on your potential award of compensation without any further obligation.