Post-traumatic Subserosal Small Bowel Herniation Leading to Obstruction in a Child with Acute Spinal Cord Injury

The presentation of small bowel injury from lap belt use varies substantially, ranging from gross hemodynamic instability to insidious physiologic deterioration to simple failure of improvement. Rarely does small bowel injury manifest as an obstruction. This paper describes one such occurrence; in this case, herniation of intact mucosa/submucosa through a serosal tear caused a high-grade small bowel obstruction in a pediatric patient with an acute spinal cord injury and a virgin abdomen.