Recognition and Management of Traumatic Massive Hemothorax: Evaluation of 67 Cases

Murat Oncel, Guven Sadi Sunam and Huseyin Yildiran

Department of Thoracic Surgery, Selcuk University, Konya, Turkey

^*Correspondance to: Murat Oncel 

 PDF  Full Text DOI: 10.25107/2474-1647.1555

Abstract

Background: As clinical presentation of massive hemothorax, patients are usually admitted to the emergency units after thoracic trauma. We evaluated treatment approaches of patients with massive hemothorax of comparation of 67 cases.Methods: The 67 patients (53 males and 14 females) who were treated with diagnosis of massive hemothorax in Konya Numune Hospital and Selcuk University, Hospital of Faculty of Medicine between 2004 and 2015 years were retrospectively studied. An accumulation of more than 1500 cc of blood in the pleural cavity, a homogeneous opacity more than half of a hemothorax on the chest radiograph and computed tomography (CT), or ongoing drainage and hemodynamic instability in patients were defined as massive hemothorax. Chi-square test was used for comparison of nominal data.Results: Hemothorax was associated with blunt thoracic trauma in 39 (59%) patients and with penetrating trauma in 28 (41%) patients. Extra thoracic accompanying organ injuries were present in 22 cases and extremity fractures were seen most frequently. Thoracic tube drainage was performed in 34 blunt trauma and 15 penetrating trauma cases, emergency surgery was performed in 1 blunt trauma case and 12 penetrating trauma cases.Conclusion: Tube thoracostomy were found to be significant for massive hemothorax whether due to blunt or penetrating trauma, and proposed as a first-line therapeutic approach.

Keywords

Hemothorax; Chest tube; Thoracotomy; Thoracic injuries

Cite the article

Oncel M, Sunam GS, Yildiran H. Recognition and Management of Traumatic Massive Hemothorax: Evaluation of 67 Cases. Clin Surg. 2017; 2: 1555.