title: Comprehensive analysis of 4205 patients with chest trauma: a 10-year experience.
abstract: Thoracic trauma is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in developing countries. In this retrospective study, we present our 10-year experience in the management and clinical outcome of 4205 cases with chest trauma associated with blunt and penetrating injuries in a level I trauma hospital in Turkey. In 66% of the cases, blunt injury mostly related to traffic accidents was the cause of chest trauma. Additional organ injuries were found in 35% (n=1471). Conservative treatment was administered for most patients. Tube thoracostomy was administered in 40% of all cases, whereas thoracotomy was performed in 6% (n=252), of which 209 were early interventions (P=0.001). The morbidity rate in all victims was 25.2%. The mortality rate was 9.3% for all patients and was 6.8% in blunt, 1.4% in penetrating, and 17.7% in associated organ injuries. Mortality and injury severity score (ISS) increased in patients having early surgery (P=0.001). Although most patients could be managed with conservative approaches, early thoracotomy was required in some cases. We believe that urgent hospital admission, early diagnosis, and multidisciplinary approach are very important to improve outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Dr Lutfi Kirdar Kartal Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey. recepdemirhan@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Recep
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Demirhan
authors.forename: Burak
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Onan
authors.forename: Kursad
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oz
authors.forename: Semih
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Halezeroglu
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003906:Developing Countries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D004638:Emergency Treatment; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010348:Patient Care Team; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013898:Thoracic Injuries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D013907:Thoracostomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D013908:Thoracotomy / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D013997:Time Factors; D014193:Trauma Centers; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014421:Turkey / Q000453:epidemiology; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D055815:Young Adult