ABSTRACT

Purpose:

We evaluated treatment approaches of patients with traumatic hemothorax . Methods We retrospectively analyzed 296 patients (240 males, 56 females: mean age 40.12 years)recieved treatment for hemothorax between 2004 and 2009.

Results:

The most common etiology of hemothorax was trauma (n=155,%49.52). The most com-mon traumatic cause was traffic accidents,followed by penetrating injuries(%29.71) 93 patients. 48 patients due a hemothorax with a gun injuries (%15.33) Traumatic hemothorax was associated with accompanying injuries (%40).The most common being cranial ınjuries (%21). Thoracentesis was performed in five patients (%1.5). Tube thoracostomy was inserted 201 patients only (%67.90). Thoracotomy was performed in 40 patients (%12.77)of which 12 patients required emergency thoracotomy. During thoracotomy, parenchymal laceration was observed in 23 patients, internal mamarian artery injury in 2 patients, atrium laserations in 2 patients, intercostal vascular injury in 12 patients and thoracal aort injury in one patient. The mean hospital stay was 8.2 days. Mortality occured in five patients (%1.6)

Traumatic:

Hemothorax is an emergency situation that requires rapid diagnosis and treat. The first therapatic attemp must be tube thoracostomy if the conservative treatment fails, thoracoto-my was performed rapidly.