Penetrating chest injuries: analysis of 99 cases

Aim: To investigate the patterns of penetrating thoracic injuries and techniques used in their management, and to contribute further data on the knowledge of penetrating thoracic trauma. Materials and methods: The records were reviewed of 99 patients seen at our thoracic surgery hospital over a 4-year period. Results: The group comprised 90 male (90.9%) and 9 female (9.1%) patients, with a mean age of 29.0 years. Of these patients, 62 (62.6%) had left-sided, 33 (33.3%) had right-sided, and 4 (4%) had bilateral penetrating injury. Stab wounds comprised 89 cases (89.9%) and the remaining 10 patients (10.1%) suffered gunshot wounds. Intercostal tube thoracostomy was the only therapy required in 68 patients (68.7%), whereas 21 patients (21.2%) had conservative management and only 10 patients (10.1%) underwent thoracotomy and exploration. Mean hospitalization period was 4.5 days in the tube thoracostomy group whereas median hospitalization duration in the exploration group was 11 days. Conclusion: In this study we emphasize that chest tube thoracostomy should remain by far the most common and appropriate method of treating penetrating injury to the thorax.