[Lung injuries]

Even though lungs can be injured solitarily, most of pulmonary lesions occur within the scope of multiple trauma. Because of various patho-physiological processes resulting from the multiple trauma, the valuation of extent, course and prognosis of pulmonary injuries is difficult. Depending on examined cases, mortality of thoracic injuries as stated in various references amounts to between 6 and 55%. Concerning thoracic injuries we dealt with severe traumas of the thorax. This explains the relatively high rate of thoracotomy of 17% as well as the high mortality of 34% we confirmed. Because of described variety of injuries, it is necessary for better comparison of clinical investigations to specify the lesions in accordance with general and specific thoracic severity of injury--as described in the multiple trauma score of the Medical University of Hannover--. Especially pulmonary contusions with associated conspicuous injuries are often primarily underestimated concerning their dimensions and consequences. Therefore the importance of subtle inquiry of pulmonary findings must be strictly underlined.