[Surgical treatment of blunt liver trauma, indications for surgery and results].

Introduction: The liver is the most frequently injured organ in blunt abdominal trauma. Patients that are hemodynamically unstable must undergo inmmediate surgical treatment. There are 2 surgical approaches for these patients; Anatomical Liver resection or non-anatomic liver resection.

Best timing for thoracoscopic evacuation of retained post-traumatic hemothorax.

Objective: To determine the best timing for thoracoscopic drainage of clotted hemothorax in order to ensure safe and effective results and to identify risk factors associated with drainage failure.

Materials And Methods: Cohort retrospective study of 139 consecutive patients who underwent thoracoscopic retained hemothorax drainage between April 1997 and May 2005.

Results: The procedure was successful in 102 patients (73.