Clinical study of 1045 cases of thoracic trauma

Objective To understand the characteristics of thoracic trauma and explore the treating strategy. Methods To make a statistical analysis of 1045 patients with thoracic trauma from 1990 to 2004 in our hospital. All patients were classified according to the time before hospital, cause of the trauma, clinical situation, therapeutic methods and the effect. Results Traffic accident injury is the most common cause in the trauma (38.7%). Closed thoracic trauma was about 70%. Of the patients treated without operation was about 77%, emergency thoracotomy was only 5.5%. Death rate was 0.7%. The major cause of death was head injuries and combining with heart and great vessel injuries. Conclusions To enhance the education of traffic safety knowledge is the important link of reducing thoracic trauma. Shortening the time between injury and treatment, strengthening first aid on the sport is the important basis of reducing death rate. Promptly proper diagnosis and treatment are keys for curing multiple injuries.