Traumatic ribs fracture: how to treat them?

Abstract

Flail chest complicates about 10% of patients with chest trauma and is associated with a mortality rate of 10-20% in older series, while a recent one reports no mortality. The majority of the cases are treated conservatively with internal pneumatic stabilization and pain control. In recent years, nevertheless, we assisted in the resurgence of chest wall fixation due to the availability of new devices. We report our experience in the use of mouldable titanium clips (STRACOS, Strasbourg Thoracic Osteosyntheses System; MedXpert, Heitersheim, Germany) to fix traumatic rib fracture. This device presents an advantage over previous strategies, as it is easy to apply and doesn’t require drilling and screwing of the ribs.

Keywords

• chest wall, titanium, artificial rib, fixation.