• Peter Getz, Philipp Mommsen, Jan-Dierk Clausen, and Marcel Winkelmann.
• Trauma Department, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
• In Vivo. 2019 Jan 1; 33 (1): 133-139.

BackgroundFlail chest is considered as one of the most severe forms of blunt thoracic trauma. However, its actual influence on post-traumatic morbidity and mortality is debatable.Materials And MethodsA retrospective cohort analysis was performed of multiply injured patients (injury severity score ≥16) at a level I trauma center. Flail chest was defined as segment fracture of at least three consecutive ribs on at least one side. Propensity score matching was performed.ResultsA total of 600 patients were included, with a mean age of 44.1±19.1 years and a mean injury severity score of 31.6±10.4. Overall, 367 patients (61.2%) had a serial rib fracture. Forty-five patients (7.5%) presented with flail chest. Patients with flail chest more often had lung contusions (70 vs. 50%, p=0.04) and pneumo-/hematothorax (93 vs. 71%, p=0.005). There were no differences in post-traumatic morbidity and mortality.ConclusionFlail chest had no independent influence in addition to injury severity on post-traumatic morbidity and mortality in multiply injured patients with blunt thoracic trauma.Copyright© 2019, International Institute of Anticancer Research (Dr. George J. Delinasios), All rights reserved.

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