Ann Urol
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Perineal war wounds involve the anterior perineum or urogenital perineum and posterior perineum or ano-sphincteric perineum. They are rare in civilian practice and in war practice, as only a small and hidden surface of this anatomical region is exposed to damaging agents. An isolated wound of the perineum is rarely life-threatening, but always threatens the functional prognosis of these patients, who have a mean age less than 30 years. ⋯ The basic principles of surgical treatment remain urinary diversion by a large cystostomy tube for urogenital lesions, faecal diversion by terminal colostomy for ano-sphincteric lesions, conservative debridement of the margins of the anal or urethral wound, debridement and drainage of contaminated soft tissues and connective tissue spaces. First-line immediate suture of the urethra or edges of the anal wound must be considered according to the defect, and the septic and haemorrhagic context. When ideal repair cannot be performed, alignment over an urethral catheter, urethrostomy, fixation-identification of the urethral or anal extremities constitute intermediate procedures allowing secondary urological and proctological specialized procedures in these patients.
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From a series of 316 cases of war wounds, the authors selected those cases in which the entry or exit wound was situated between the iliac crests and the inferior gluteal fold and report a series of 21 wounds (including 17 assault gunshot wounds) involving the perineal, pelvic and/or gluteal regions. Wounds of these regions are characterized by their immediate severity (10% mortality in this series), due to the complexity of combined lesions (urethra, rectum, hip, abdominal and vascular lesions) and the severity of sequelae. ⋯ Based on this series and a review of the literature, the authors discuss diagnostic problems (risk of missing abdominal penetration, a retroperitoneal rectal wound or an articular wound). Principles of treatments are also described (wide debridement and drainage, systematic colostomy for wounds of the rectum and large soft tissues wounds, systematic cystostomy for bladder and urethral wounds and alignment of urethral wounds whenever possible, articular lavage and immobilization by external fixation of hip wounds).