War injuries of the chest

One hundred and fifty battle casualties with injuries of the chest are reported; most of them resulted from shell fragments. More than 70 per cent were treated by closed drainage by a tube. Early thoracotomy was required in 7.3 per cent of cases, and 5 per cent required a late thoracotomy for complications. Selected cases of flail chest injuries were treated without operation. The mortality rate in our series was 3.3 per cent.