European journal of emergency medicine : official journal of the European Society for Emergency Medicine
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Thoracic penetrating injury is a cause for up to one-fifth of all non-natural deaths. The aim of this study was to determine the success of selective nonoperative management (SNOM) of patients presenting with a penetrating thoracic injury (PTI). ⋯ PTI has a low in-hospital mortality rate. Only 16.5% (41/248) of the patients presenting with PTI will need surgical treatment. The other patients are safe to be treated conservatively according to a protocolized SNOM approach for PTI without any additional mortality. Conservative treatment of patients who were selected for this nonoperative treatment strategy with repeated clinical reassessment was successful in 93.2%.