INTRODUCTION Rib plating is becoming increasingly common as a method for stabilizing a flail chest resulting from multiple rib fractures. Recent guidelines recommend surgical stabilization of a flail chest based on consistent evidence of its efficacy and lack of major safety concerns. But complications of this procedure can occur and are wide ranging. PRESENTATION OF CASE We report an interes...

OBJECTIVE The records of 250 patients presenting with flail-chest injury in a level I trauma centre were reviewed and analysed in order to determine prognostic factors. METHODS There were 250 consecutive trauma patients with flail chest, 183 men (73.2%) and 67 women (26.8%) ranging in age from 18 to 91 years, admitted to our hospital. The leading cause of injury was road traffic accident. One...

Trauma primarily affects young people and is the leading cause of death in the first three decades of life. Flail chest is observed in approximately 10% of all patients with severe chest trauma, and the mortality rate among such patients is 10-15%. We report herein the case of a car accident victim with chest trauma causing hemopneumothorax and multiple rib fractures, intense pain and deformity...

BACKGROUND The objective of the study is to provide evidence for selecting the best treatment approach for severe flail chest by comparing surgical and conservative treatments. METHODS This is a retrospective study in which 32 patients with severe flail chest were treated in the Fujian Provincial Hospital (China) between July 2007 and July 2012 with surgical internal rib fixation (n = 17) or ...

BACKGROUND Traumatic flail chest injury is a potentially life threatening condition traditionally treated with invasive mechanical ventilation to splint the chest wall. Longer-term sequelae of pain, deformity, and physical restriction are well described. This study investigated the impact of operative fixation in these patients. STUDY DESIGN A prospective randomized study compared operative f...