Epidural analgesia or mechanical ventilation for multiple Rib fractures?

A protocol for treating thoracic trauma is proposed. Severe pulmonary lesion with increased venous admixture (e.g. contusio, atelectasis, aspiration) is treated by mechanical ventilation. Rib fractures with minor pulmonary lesion and therefore with only moderately abnormal gas exchange but with remarkably reduced vital capacity (even with flail chest) are controlled by thoracic epidural analgesia following vital capacity, tidal volume and respiratory rate. If both a severe pulmonary lesion and serial rib fractures are present, the patient is ventilated for 2-3 days and then extubated to breath spontaneously with epidural analgesia. The indication for a mechanical ventilation or for spontaneous breathing with thoracic epidural analgesia is therefore deducted more from functional variables than from morphological facts. The course of a consecutive series of 283 patients is presented. 155 patients were treated with primary ventilation and 112 patients with primary epidural analgesia, while 16 patients could be managed with general analgesia. The duration of treatment morbidity and mortality show this protocol to be very useful.