Emergency department thoracotomy for trauma: a collective review

A decade of experience with resuscitative thoracotomy for the trauma victim in extremis has been gained since the pioneering efforts of Mattox and his associates in 1974. It appears, from a review of the various reports from different trauma centers, that there is an emergence of a consensus as to the best indications for the procedure. It is generally agreed upon that ERT is fruitless in the patient with severe head trauma or when vital signs were absent at the scene of the injury. In the absence of penetrating thoracic injuries ERT yields a very poor survival in patients without vital signs on admission to the emergency center. It is widely accepted that the best results for ERT are in patients with cardiac tamponade. The prognosis is hopeless in patients without vital signs after sustaining blunt trauma.