Flail Chest Trauma Case Study

The main issues of this case that need to be focused upon are : chest trauma and Flail chest, compound fracture of the mid-shaft of the right femur and open wound, major blood loss and symptoms of hypovolemic shock and GCS of 12.
According to a recent study (Griffin et al., 2012, P.518),the priorities of examination are the same for all the cases as the primary examination should be performed first. The primary examination includes airways and breathing, level of response and bloodcirculation, thus the first aspect that needs to be focused upon is chest trauma.
Chest trauma is a significant source of morbidity and mortality. Studies showed (Kerwin et al., 2001, P. 308) thatthoracic injuries are responsible for 20-25% of deaths due to trauma and its complications contribute in a further 25% of trauma deaths.Whereas Centers for Disease Control and Prevention studies (2014) found that in the United States, thoracic trauma is causing for more than 100,000 deaths annually.
A study conducted …show more content…
The lateris classified as a life-threatening medical conditionand Studies (Velmahos et al., 2002) have found that up to 50 % of patients with flail chest will die. Flail chest is defined as theloss of stability of thethoraciccagefollowingmultiplefractures of theribsunder extreme stress. It occurs when there are at least two fractures per rib forming a free segment. Hence, a part of the chest wall that is flailmoves independently during lung expansion causing instability in part of thechestwalland results inparadoxicalbreathing. Moreover, astudy conducted to investigate thoracic trauma (Yamamoto et al.,2005, P.22)Found that Flail chest is usually accompanied by pulmonary contusion. In such cases, the damage of normal pulmonary mechanics is large enough to involve mechanical ventilation. Therefore,management of flail chest requires the standard management of the rib fractures as well as of the pulmonarycontusions

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