Blunt trauma chest: our experience at rural tertiary care centre

Abstract

Background:  Every hour, 40 people under the age of 25 die in road accidents around the globe. According to the WHO, this is the second most important cause of death for 15 to 29 year olds. According to the latest report of National Crime Records Bureau or NCRB, Over 1, 37,000 people were killed in road accidents in 2013. Thoracic trauma forms one of the major parts of multiple traumas and is responsible for significant mortality and morbidity especially at younger ages. Methods: We carried out a retrospective study to assess the prevalence of chest injury patients at Geetanjali medical college and hospital, Udaipur (Tertiary care rural centre) in last two years. Clinical details of the patients were recorded from their case sheets and were analyzed with reference to their age, sex, mode of injury, severity of injury, treatment employed, complication and final outcome etc. Results:  Males were predominantly involved (88.2%). Majority (61.9%) were in the age group of 21-30 years. Conclusions:  Chest injury occurs in a significant number of trauma patients and commonly affected victims are males of 20-40 years age. The majority of these patients were managed by simple intervention i.e., intercostals chest tube drainage and non –invasive ventilation, only less than 3% require thoracotomy.