The Operative Management of Flail Chest Injuries with Concomitant Sternal Fracture

The natural history of flail chest injuries

PURPOSE Flail chest (FC) injuries represent a significant burden on trauma services because of its high morbidity and mortality. Current gold standard conservative management strategies for FC, are now being challenged by renewed interest in surgical rib fixation. This retrospective epidemiological study sets out to evaluate FC patients, and quantify the natural history of this injury by studyi...

Invited Commentary Contemporary Management of Flail Chest

Thoracic injury is currently the second leading cause of trauma-related death and rib fractures are the most common of these injuries. Flail chest, as defined by fracture of three or more ribs in two or more places, continues to be a clinically challenging problem. The underlying pulmonary contusion with subsequent inflammatory reaction and right-to-left shunting leading to hypoxia continues to...

The management of chest injuries.

The mortality from chest injuries is so high due to severe physiologic imbalance that an immediate and accurate diagnosis of the injured organ and prompt treatment can salvage the patient from the strategy. This study comprises 1329 injured cases including 145 patients with crushed chests. The cause of injury was traffic accident in 537 cases (40.5%), fall or degradation in 332 cases (25%). The...

Successful operative rib fixation of traumatic flail chest in a patient with osteogenesis imperfecta.

Increasing attention has been directed towards operative rib fixation of traumatic flail chest; reported benefits include more rapid weaning from the ventilator, decreased intensive care unit stays, decreased complications and improved functional results. The outcomes of this surgical intervention in patients with osteogenesis imperfecta, a rare condition characterized by low bone density and b...

Operative management of spinal injuries.