A 52-year-old man presented to the emergency department with a 3-day history of fevers and left flank pain radiating to the chest and neck. Total WBC count was 20,000/uL. Abdominal CT demonstrated small bibasilar pleural effusions. Because of persistent leukocytosis, an In WBC scintigram was ordered 5 days after admission, which demonstrated thoracic WBC accumulation on the planar images that localized to the left posterior chest wall on SPECT/CT. SPECT/CT may differentiate intrathoracic versus extrathoracic disease.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/RLU.0000000000000433 | DOI Listing |
J Orthop Trauma
December 2024
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Regions Hospital, St. Paul, MN.
As the operative management of acute, chest wall, skeletal injury escalates throughout the world, it has become commonplace for patients with posttraumatic conditions to present with clinical reconstructive challenges as well. In addition, it is becoming clear that rib nonunions are not rare, likely more than 5% of rib fractures. No subspecialty is better equipped to address such painful conditions than orthopaedic surgery.
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December 2024
Section of Acute Care Surgery, Department of General Surgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.
Thoracic injuries are common, occurring in up to 60% of polytrauma patients and represent 25% of trauma deaths. Thoracic trauma frequently involves injury to the pleural space resulting in hemothorax and pneumothorax-effective management of the pleural space is essential. Reviewed in this article is management of the pleural space in chest wall trauma (including pneumothorax and hemothorax), and chest tube placement, indications for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery, management, and complications.
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December 2024
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Missouri - Columbia, Missouri Orthopaedic Institute, Columbia, MO.
Effective management of bony and cartilaginous thoracic injury is a vital part of the care of the polytraumatized patient. Commonly because of high-energy accidents including motor vehicle collisions and falls, these patients routinely require multidisciplinary care and surgical intervention. As our understanding of unstable chest wall injuries and pulmonary sequelae of the injury grows, it is imperative that injury patterns and surgical approaches become familiar to the orthopaedic trauma-trained surgeon.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Orthop Trauma
December 2024
Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Regions Hospital, St. Paul, MN; and.
Chest wall trauma is rapidly evolving and now represents a multidisciplinary field with incredible growth in research and surgical intervention; however, even with more than 800 publications on chest wall trauma to date, surgical indications are not black and white. Injury patterns need to be better defined and outcome measurements need to evolve for accurate longer term functional assessment of patients if this field of surgery is to move beyond historical indications for operative intervention. This essay will communicate what is known about operative indications in a way that stratifies the need for surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Orthop Trauma
December 2024
Department of Orthopaedics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
The ribs, sternum, and costal margin provide a rigid, but flexible chest wall that functions to provide protection to the vital cardiothoracic organs, while also allowing for varying levels of respiration based on physiologic need. The latter function is accomplished through various muscular attachments and rib articulations with both the axial spine posteriorly and the sternum anteriorly. The accessory muscles of inspiration rely on the downward slope and outward curve of each rib, which when contracted move the ribs upward and outward, in turn forcing the sternum anterior and increasing the thoracic volume.
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