Background: Flail chest is the most serious form of blunt thoracic trauma, presenting with paradoxical chest wall motion and often complicated by high morbidity and mortality. The central flail chest may cause more profound respiratory compromise than other anatomic subtypes, but outcome comparisons among these groups have been uncommon. Aim of the study: The aim of this study was to compare the impact of central and other types of flail chest on outcome and mortality in chest injury patients. Methods & materials: The present cross-sectional study was conducted in the Department of Thoracic surgery, National Institute of Diseases of Chest & Hospital (NIDCH), Mohakhali, Dhaka from January 2010 to December 2010. Total 60 patients with chest injury were included in this study. Of them, 22 had central flail chest injury (Group-I) and 38 had other flail chest injury (Group-II). Result: Both groups were comparable in age and sex with no statistically significant difference. Road traffic accident was the main cause of injury (72.7% vs. 84.2%). Critical injuries (ISS >25) were more frequent in Group I (81.8%) than Group II (63.2%). Pneumonia (40.9% vs. 27.0%) and ARDS (18.2% vs. 2.7%) were more frequent in Group I. Mortality was significantly higher in Group I (22.7%) than Group II (2.7%, p = 0.023). Conclusion: Central flail chest is associated with more severe injury patterns, higher complication rates, and significantly greater mortality than the other subtypes.
Hossain et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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