title: [Emergency thoracotomy. Indications, surgical technique and results].
abstract: Emergency thoracotomy is a surgical technique that has been extended in the last few years, and is currently included in advanced cardiopulmonary resuscitation protocols. Despite its proven use in patients with penetrating heart wounds, it is often not used due to lack of knowledge of the technique. Currently, the increase in chest wounds due to violence, traffic accidents, crashes or suicides, and advances in extra-hospital medical care systems, has currently awakened new interest in this technique. A review of emergency thoracotomy is presented in this article: indications, surgical technique, results, and its usefulness in the extra-hospital setting.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Cirugía Cardiovascular, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, España. rhestefania@unav.es
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hernández-Estefanía
mesh_terms: D004638:Emergency Treatment; D006801:Humans; D013908:Thoracotomy / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome