A clinical evaluation was performed with a population of 49 patients of chest trauma, who were diagnosed to undergo ventilator therapy, and had gone through ventilator therapy at the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Kyungpook
University Hospital.
One of most common causes of chest trauma was vehicle accdients(77.5%) with the prevalent age group being their forties. The common findings were multiple rib fractures(89.8%), hemopneumothrax(81.6%), lung contusion(61.2%) and flail chest(44.9%).
Their
common combined injuries were the orthopedics and neurosugical injuries(86.7%). Complications caused by chest trauma were pneumonia, respiratory failure, atelectasis, barotrauma and empyema. Pulmonary infections were commonly associated with
mechanical
ventilation in the long term group and were best prevented by using bronchial hygiene therapy.
The mortality rate was 5.8% of the total patients and that was 38.8% of the patients, who needed ventilator therapy. The causes of death were pneumonia, respiratory failure, acute renal failure and hypovolemic shock.
Mechanical ventilation has an important place in the treatment of patients with severe chest trauma. (Korean J Thoracic Cardiovas Surg 1994; 27:59-63)
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