Importance of blunt injuries of the chest for assessment of the therapeutic procedure and prognosis in multiple injuries

Abstract

Based on analysis of a group of 62 casualties with multiple injuries where a blunt chest injury was found, the authors submit some principles for assessment of the priority of the therapeutic procedure. The patients were hospitalized at the intensive care unit of the Surgical Clinic of the Third Medical Faculty in Prague between 1989 and 1992.

Craniocerebral injury was the most frequent associated injury, its sequelae were the cause of death in the majority of injured patients who died. In the treatment of chest injuries with an unstable thoracic wall, with contusion of the lungs and associated craniocerebral injury artificial ventilation is still the method of choice.