Governance and quality care for patients after traumatic splenic injury treated with splenic artery embolisation (SAE) in Australia and New Zealand: a multi-society Delphi consensus guideline

In Australia and New Zealand, blunt splenic injury is common and splenic artery embolisation (SAE) has been shown to be an effective method of controlling bleeding and preventing splenectomy. The intervention being studied is thus SAE in the setting of traumatic injury. There is now short- and long-term data on splenic function after SAE. However, a recent study [1] show that management of patients remains heterogenous, with many not undergoing any form of splenic function testing. A Delphi panel will be performed consisting of the following: - Study investigators - Representative of Interventional Radiologic Society of Australasia (IRSA) - Representative of the Australia and New Zealand Trauma Society (ANZTS) - Representative of the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Surgery of Trauma (ANZAST) - Representative of Spleen Australia - At least one medical practitioner from each of the the following disciplines: interventional radiologist, trauma surgeon, emergency physician, infectious diseases physician - At least one member from each of Australia and New Zealand The panel will consider 2-4 rounds over a period of approximately 4 months' duration. The panel will initially identify themes and relevant clinical questions relating to the topic. The panel will then vote on the relevance of each statement to achieve consensus. Consensus will be defined at >70% agreement between the panelists. The panelist involvement will be through a clickable SurveyMoneky link, which will take then to a digital survey. The initial 1-2 rounds will consist of qualitative questions and free text responses regarding the survey content. This will to be identify the relevant evidence-based themes that will later form the question. The following 1-2 rounds will consist of binary responses to questions which will form the ultimate output of the Delphi process. After each round, the participants will receive the results and written feedback rom the principal investigator. Questions that reach >70% will then be removed from the panel and the rounds will continue. If any feedback requires the inclusion of new questions, then this will happen at that stage. 1. Clements W, Woolley I, Zia MA, Kavnoudias H, Weber DG, Spelman DW, Mathew J. A nationwide Australian cross-sectional study assessing current management and infection prevention practices after Splenic Artery Embolisation (SAE) following trauma. Injury. 2025 Jul 8:112593.