BACKGROUND Multiple rib fractures and unstable thoracic cage injuries are common in blunt trauma. Surgical management of rib fractures has received increasing attention in recent years and the aim of this 1-year, prospective study was to assess the long-term effects of surgery. METHODS Fifty-four trauma patients with median Injury Severity Score 20 (9-66) and median New Injury Severity Score ...

A full-thickness chest wall resection requires subsequent chest wall reconstruction. A chest wall resection and reconstruction was performed using a transverse rectus abdominis myocutaneous (TRAM) flap, together with polypropylene mesh (Marlex mesh) and stainless steel mesh (SSM). A 71-year-old man was diagnosed as having recurrent lung cancer in the chest wall, and underwent surgical resection...

To the Editor: We are writing in response to Dr. Forman’s1 editorial “The Expanding Genetic Toolkit for Exploring Mechanisms of General Anesthesia” in the April issue of ANESTHESIOLOGY. Dr. Forman covers many excellent points about the use of genetics in understanding anesthetic mechanisms. However, we think that he has overlooked, and perhaps unintentionally discounted, the key ability of an u...

OBJECTIVE A rib fracture secondary to blunt thoracic trauma is an important indicator of the severity of the trauma. In the present study we explored the morbidity and mortality rates and the management following rib fractures. METHODS Between May 1999 and May 2001, 1417 cases who presented to our clinic for thoracic trauma were reviewed retrospectively. Five hundred and forty-eight (38.7%) o...

Received 13 July 2012 Accepted 20 September 2012 A 46-year-old man presented with dyspnoea, haemoptysis, orthopnoea and a pan-systolic murmur. His chest radiograph (see figure 1) demonstrated asymmetric pulmonary infiltrates, predominantly affecting the right-upper lobe. He was diagnosed with lobar-pneumonia but failed to improve with antibiotic therapy. Echocardiography subsequently demonstrat...