War injuries of the lungs.
OBJECTIVE
The authors' experience in the treatment of war injuries of the lungs, gained during the war in Croatia, from August 25, 1991 until July 1, 1995, is presented. In that period, 424 patients with injuries of the lungs were treated at the Split Clinical Hospital.


METHODS
The paper is a retrospective study of 424 wounded persons with lung injuries gained during the war in Croatia, processed by basic statistical analysis.


RESULTS
Penetrating and nonpenetrating wounds were present in 331 (78.1%) and 93 (21.9%) patients, respectively. There were 407 (96.0%) men and 17 (4.0%) women. Explosive wounds were most frequent (n = 251; 59.2%), followed by gunshot wounds (n = 158: 37.3%) and other types of wounds in 15 (3.5%) patients only. Thoracotomy was performed in 89 (22.9%) patients, whereas conservative surgical methods (wound treatment, chest-tube drainage, appropriate fluid therapy, antimicrobial and atelectasis prophylaxis) were used in 300 (77.1%) patients. A great majority of the patients (n = 395; 93.2%) were discharged as fully recovered or in improved condition, 22 (5.2%) patients were referred to other institutions for further treatment, and seven (1.7%) wounded persons died.


CONCLUSIONS
It is shown that most war wounds of the lungs can be successfully managed by 'conservative' surgical treatment.
Petricevic
A
A
Department of Surgery, Split Clinical Hospital, Croatia.
Ilic
N
N
Bacic
A
A
Petricevic
M
M
Vidjak
V
V
Tanfara
S
S
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D017523:Croatia; D004322:Drainage; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D055370:Lung Injury; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013908:Thoracotomy; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014857:Warfare; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery* / Q000628:therapy