Cardiac findings of sternal fractures due to thoracic trauma: A five-year retrospective study

This study mainly aimed to determine the frequency of sternal fractures in thoracic trauma patients and to assess the differences in surgical need, cardiac findings, and treatment processes between patients with fracture on different sternal zones and displaced and non-displaced sternal fractures.

We analyzed the data of patients with sternal fracture due to thoracic trauma admitted to a state hospital between January 2011 and December 2015. Patient data comprised demographics, trauma characteristics, clinical findings, and treatment process.

Of the 2764 thoracic trauma patients admitted during the study period, 72 (2.6%) had sternal fracture. The median age was 52 (inter quartile range: 61-38) years; the patients were predominantly male (F/M: 18/54). The most common causes of sternal fractures were motor vehicle accident, fall, and work accident. Of all the patients, 15 had displaced fracture. Abnormal echocardiogram findings were significantly more frequent in patients having fractures on the manubrium than in those having fractures on the corpus of the sternum. Patients who had fracture on the corpus had significantly lesser surgery need than those who had fracture on the manubrium of the sternum. Also, there was statistically significant difference between displaced and non-displaced sternal fracture cases in terms of surgery need (p<0.005).

Abnormal echocardiography findings were more frequent in patients with sternal fracture on the manubrium and displaced fracture.