Naslov za dopisovanje / Correspondence Doc.dr. Vojko Flis, dr.med.

Purpose: Thoracic trauma com-prises 10–15 % of all traumas. Blunt chest trauma is a major cause of mor-bidity and mortality, especially in the presence of flail chest. Chest–wall in-stability may be treated conservatively with analgesia, assisted ventilation and clearing of bronchial secretions. However, such treatment does not pre-vent additional injuries from broken ribs. It was thought that penetrating intrathoracic aortic injury after rib fractures was rare, but with emerging new cases the question of surgical sta