Clinical predictors of therapeutic laparotomy in anterior abdominal stab injuries: a multicenter study from low-income institutions in Ethiopia.

Purpose: Despite the high incidence of abdominal stab injuries, the rate of nontherapeutic laparotomies and the predictors of therapeutic laparotomies have rarely been studied in low-income settings.

Methods: This multicenter retrospective study involved three of the largest academic medical centers in central Ethiopia. All patients who sustained an anterior abdominal stab injury and underwent exploratory laparotomy, regardless of the intraoperative findings, were included over the 3-year course of the study.