Purpose
The clinical presentation of thoracic trauma ranges from a minimum of pain to a state of shock,
and about a third of thoracic injuries require hospital treatment (1).
Two thirds of patients with multiple blunt injuries have a chest injury,
whereas severe chest injuries are associated with other injuries in 70-90% of the patients (2).
It depends on the clinical findings whether the patient was in immediate danger and if radiological examinations can be made safely (3).
After an initial clinical evaluation and the stabilisation...
Methods and Materials
The study was a prospective review of 61 patients (mean age 43.9 years) with blunt trauma who were treated in our clinical centre and who had received a CT scan of thorax as part of their initial assessment.
It should be emphasised that the patients got their CT examination report within clinically reasonable time,
independently of our study.
These CT examinations were recorded in the memory of the computer,
after which we evaluated the number of injuries by organs or organ systems of the chest....
Results
Average age of the patients included in this study was 43.9 years (min 14.0,
max 82.0,
SD 17.7 years).
The number of male patients was 46 (75.4%),
whereas the number of female patients was 16 (24.6%).
The length of treatment,
meaning the length of hospitalisation at the Institute for Surgery of the Clinical Centre of Vojvodina,
ranged from 1 to 64 days,
with an average of 13.8 days and a standard deviation of 14.9.
The most common cause of injury was a traffic accident (n=39;...
Conclusion
Blunt chest trauma is a significant problem affecting predominantly males in their forties and it is usually caused by motor vehicle accidents.
In more than 80% of cases it is associated with extrathoracic injuries,
predominantly injuries to extremities or pelvic bones,
followed by head injuries.
The widespread use of multidetector computerised tomography facilitates the diagnosis of clinically relevant injuries.
The existence of subcutaneous emphysema should always spark suspicion that a rib fracture exists.
In any case of pneumomediastinum,
especially in the abundant ones,
we advise...
References
Scaglione M,
Pinto A,
Pedrosa I,
Sparano A,
Romano L.
Multi-detector row computed tomography and blunt chest trauma.
Eur J Radiol 2008; 65(3): 377-88.
Traub M,
Stevenson M,
McEvoy S,
Briggs G,
Lo SK,
Leibman S, et al.
The use of chest computed tomography versus chest X-ray in patients with major blunt trauma.
Injury 2007; 38(1): 43-7.
Westaby S,
Brayley N.
ABC of major trauma.
Thoracic trauma-I.
BMJ 1990; 300(6740): 1639-43.
Primack SL,
Collins J.
Blunt nonaortic chest trauma: radiographic and CT findings.
Emerg Radiol...