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Penetrating Injuries of the Thorax

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Textbook of Polytrauma Management

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Abstract

Penetrating injuries account for nearly 10% of trauma cases with nearly 30% of these involving the chest. All trauma patients should be expeditiously assessed with the primary survey in a systematic fashion including airway, breathing, and circulation. Since penetrating thoracic trauma can affect each of the ABCs, there are several intrathoracic pathologies that need to be recognized immediately during the primary survey as there may be a lifesaving intervention that can be offered. These include pneumothorax, hemothorax, cardiac, lung, and esophageal injuries. This chapter will focus on the recognition of intrathoracic pathology after penetrating trauma as well as the interventions that are available.

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Abbreviations

AAST:

American Association for the Surgery of Trauma

CT:

Computed tomography

EAST:

Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma

FAST:

Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma

PMG:

Practice Management Guideline

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, LAC+USC Medical Center, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Areg Grigorian & Kenji Inaba

Authors
  1. Areg Grigorian
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  2. Kenji Inaba
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kenji Inaba .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Trauma Surgery, University Hospital Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Hans-Christoph Pape

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery & Sports Medicine, The University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa, FL, USA

    Joseph Borrelli Jr.

  3. Ernest E. Moore Shock Trauma Center at Denver Health, University of Colorado, Denver, CO, USA

    Ernest E. Moore

  4. Klinik für Traumatologie, University Hospital of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland

    Roman Pfeifer

  5. Rocky Vista University, College of Osteopathic Medicine, Parker, CO, USA

    Philip F. Stahel

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Grigorian, A., Inaba, K. (2022). Penetrating Injuries of the Thorax. In: Pape, HC., Borrelli Jr., J., Moore, E.E., Pfeifer, R., Stahel, P.F. (eds) Textbook of Polytrauma Management . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95906-7_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95906-7_17

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