Scudder Orator Suggests Surgeons Can Collaborate to Improve Treatment of Severe Liver Injuries

Peitzman AB, Marsh JW. Scudder Oration on Trauma: Major Hepatic Injury, We Can Do Better. J Am Coll Surg. 2025, in press.

The 2024 Scudder Oration on Trauma, presented by Andrew B. Peitzman, MD, FACS, at the ACS Clinical Congress, focused on lessons learned and pathways to improved outcomes for patients with liver injuries.

A core concept in the review was the need for collaboration among trauma surgeons, liver surgeons, anesthesiologists, nurses, and other healthcare professionals to improve outcomes for patients with severe liver injuries.

The overall mortality rate for the most severe injuries has remained at 50% during the last 3 decades of clinical experience. Over time, improved understanding of trauma-related coagulopathy, emergence of arteriography and angioembolization, and recognition that nonoperative management could be successful has improved outcomes for most patients with liver injuries but not for the most severely injured.

Dr. Peitzman hypothesized that the formation of liver injury teams that include experienced liver surgeons will improve the safety and effectiveness of hemostatic maneuvers and liver resection. Trauma surgeons and liver surgeons should collaborate to achieve this goal.