title: Emergency thoracotomy and major lung resection for penetrating chest trauma: Lessons learnt from a review of three cases.
abstract: Emergency lung resection for chest trauma is a rare event with a reported incidence of 0.08-1.3% but is associated with a high morbidity and mortality especially if a pneumonectomy is required, if due to blunt chest trauma or when concomitant injuries are present. We report three cases of young adult males with penetrating chest injuries that required emergency thoracotomy (ET) and anatomical lung resection to achieve definitive control of life threatening pulmonary haemorrhage. All patients survived to hospital discharge and remained well on follow-up. Indications for an ET and what constitutes the optimal operative management of such patients is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Hospital Serdang, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Jalan Puchong, Kajang, Selangor 43000, Malaysia. anandsachithanandan@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sachithanandan
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Fahmi
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Faisal
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Balaji
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abdul Muis
authors.forename: M N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Mohd Arif
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013898:Thoracic Injuries; D013908:Thoracotomy; D014949:Wounds, Nonpenetrating / Q000601:surgery; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating