Trauma and critical care III: chest trauma

Patients requiring intensive care for chest trauma are often severely injured and may have suffered trauma elsewhere. The single largest cause of significant blunt chest trauma is road traffic accidents (RTAs). RTAs account for 70-80% of such injuries. Falls and acts of violence are other causative mechanisms. Blast injuries can also result in significant blunt thoracic trauma. Penetrating chest trauma comprises a broad spectrum of injuries and severity. Particular challenges occur in patients with associated polytrauma, as well as those with a combination of blunt and penetrating chest trauma. Chest injury is the most important injury in polytrauma patients with reported incidences of 45-65% and an associated mortality of up to 60%. The treatment of these patients can be prolonged and the initial injury may become of secondary importance to the effects of systemic inflammatory response syndrome, acute lung injury (ALI), nosocomial infection and intercurrent multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (MODS). Multiply-injured patients with thoracic injuries require significantly longer periods of mechanical ventilation and longer intensive care unit lengths of stay compared with nonthoracic injury trauma patients. The use of a variety of therapeutic interventions may have to be considered during management of the disease process.