Despite concern over chemical, radiological and biological attacks, the majority of direct terrorist-related physical injury to date has been the result of direct trauma. While many terror-related injuries tend to be of greater severity than non-terror related injuries and are characterized by penetrating wounds and the consequences of explosions, there are often a large proportion of persons w...

OBJECTIVE Thoracic injuries are among the most severe forms of trauma and also a leading cause of morbidity and mortality. Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) has recently provided an alternative method to simultaneously diagnose and manage patients sustaining chest injuries. We analyze our experience with VATS in the setting of thoracic trauma detailing indications for exploration, procedur...

Traumatic injury of the diaphragm is not an infrequent occurrence. With the rise in violence and increasing use of automobiles, more diaphragmetic injuries may be seen, especially in inner-city hospitals. Sixty-six cases from our institution within the last five years were reviewed. Of these there were 41 penetrating injuries and 23 secondary to blunt trauma. Two cases were surgically induced f...

Nonoperative management of both blunt and penetrating injuries can be challenging. During the past three decades, there has been a major shift from operative to increasingly nonoperative management of traumatic injuries. Greater reliance on nonoperative, or "conservative" management of abdominal solid organ injuries is facilitated by the various sophisticated and highly accurate noninvasive ima...

BACKGROUND This study was planned to analyze the internal and external anatomical findings of cardiac injuries and the presence of accompanying pulmonary injuries in intentionally inflicted thoracic injuries to swine models. METHODS We inflicted a penetrating heart injury in six suis domesticus female swine models. Two cardiac injuries, one on the left paratracheal of fourth intercostal space...