[The management of chest injuries]

The mortality from chest injuries is so high due to severe physiologic imbalance that an immediate and accurate diagnosis of the injured organ and prompt treatment can salvage the patient from the strategy. This study comprises 1329 injured cases including 145 patients with crushed chests. The cause of injury was traffic accident in 537 cases (40.5%), fall or degradation in 332 cases (25%). There was a correlation between the cause of injury and age, as that traffic accident was a major one in young aged and fall in elders. Treatment against crushed patients included 150 surgical operations, 206 plaster bandages, 56 drainage of thoracic, peritoneal and cranial cavities. Thoracotomies performed in patients with flail chest (2), lung contusion (4), rupture of the bronchi and diaphragm (each 1) and for evacuation of clotted hemothorax in 3 patients. The prognosis of all these patients was good. Lastly we conclude that since the prognosis of injured patients depends on how fast the patient can be carried to the hospital and how quickly the physician or surgeon can evaluate the trauma and institute a prompt treatment, the education of the primary staff is the most important.