Clinical Evaluation of Traumatic Hemothorax Necessitated Thoracotomy: Review of Experience with 32 cases

A retrospective analysis is performed in 32 cases who underwent thoracotomy due to thoracic trauma, hospitalized from January l992 to September 1996 in the Department of Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery, Yongdong Severanee Hospital, Yonsei University. Among 235 patients with thoracic trauma 32 patients,required thoracotomy which comprised 13.6% of the patients with thoracic trauma. For those patients undergoing thoracotomy, the operation may be necessary as an emergency or on a delayed basis. The patient population comprised of 24(75%) male and 8(25%) female. With age distribution from 1 to 87 years, the most common age groups in 5th decade. The most frequent cause of thoracotomy was traffic acciden(87.5%). Postoperative mortality was 9.3%. Postoperative complications included atelectasis in 4 case(12.5%), empyema in 2 cases(6.2%), respiratory failure in 2 cases(6.2%), and one case each(3.1%) of renal failure, pneumonia, wound infection.ope