CHEST INJURYThis extends Section 51.

3 on the
care of a severely injured patient.

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Figure 65.1: A SEVERE CHEST INJURY. A, this patient has surgical emphysema
—in spite of his alarming appearance, this part of his injury is benign. B, a broken
rib has punctured his lung, air has collected under pressure in his right pleural
cavity, compressed his right lung, and forced his mediastinum over to the left,
impairing the ventilation of his left lung. Air has also escaped into his mediastinum
and tracked up into his neck and face. Adapted from an original illustration by
Frank H. Netter, M.D. from the CIBA collection of medical illustrations, copyright by
CIBA Pharmaceutical Company, Division of CIBA–GEIGY Corporation.

THE RAPID ASSESSMENT OF A CHEST INJURY

If a patient’s airway is blocked, clear it as in Section 52.1.

If air is going in and out, but his breathing is distressed, he may have multiple fractured
ribs or severe abdominal pain.

If he is making great respiratory efforts, but is still hungry for air, think of a flail chest
or a pneumothorax.

If he is cyanosed in the presence of an adequate airway, he may have a badly damaged

lung, a flail chest, or a pneumothorax. Give him oxygen.

Many patients with chest injuries breathe much more easily as soon as they are intubated.

THE HISTORY OF A CHEST INJURY

Assess the force of the patient’s injury carefully. The greater the force, the greater the
chances that he has a severe injury.

THE EXAMINATION OF A CHEST INJURY

If a patient is conscious, and is now breathing easily, strip him to the waist, and ask him to
describe the pain and show you exactly where it is. if unconscious, remove his clothes and
examine his chest carefully.

INSPECTION Assess the rate and depth of the patient’s breathing, while he is breathing
normally. Ask him to take a deep breath. If his ribs are broken, his attempts to do so will
soon be stopped by sharp pain.

Mediastinal shift

Is his apex beat in its normal place? Feel in his suprasternal notch to find out if his trachea
is displaced.

Do both sides of his chest expand equally?

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Look carefully for any areas of diminished chest movement. This may be in one area only,
or involve the whole of one side. Look at him from the sides and from the top and bottom
of the trolley.

CAUTION! Look carefully for paradoxical movement. Look at the movement of a normal
area, then compare this with the possibily abnormal one. Paradoxical movement may be
difficult to see when a patient is shocked and his respiratory movements are small; it may
only come on later, when he is resuscitated. Don’t be confused by the indrawing of his
lower costal margin that is common in mild respiratory obstruction, especially in children.

Are his intercostal spaces distended on one side compared with the other? (tension
pneumothorax).

Is he cyanosed? Look at his mucous membranes and his finger nails.

CAUTION! Anaemic patients do not become cyanosed, and may die of anoxia without
showing it. There must be 5 g/dl of reduced haemoglobin in a patient’s circulation before
you can observe cyanosis.

Look carefully for any bruises on his chest caused by a steering wheel or a safety belt, or by
the imprint of his clothes.

Are the patient’s jugular veins abnormally distended? (anything which impedes the venous
return to the heart, a tension pneumothorax, mediastinal shift, and especially cardiac
tamponade).

PALPATION If a patient is conscious, start by feeling a pain–free area, and then move
towards the injured one. Feel for: (1) Tenderness. (2) Crepitus when fractured ribs move
with respiration. (3) The crackly feeling of surgical emphysema.

Feel his abdomen for rigidity, tenderness, and distension.

PERCUSSION Do this gently. Don’t fail to turn him or sit him up so that you can examine
his back. Dullness may indicate blood or the collapse of a lung, and hyper–resonance may
be caused by a tension pneumothorax.

ASCULTATION Can you hear the patient’s breath sounds all over his chest, or are they
diminished? Note especially: (1) Clicking sounds from fractured ribs. (2) The coarse
crepitations of surgical emphysema. (3) Reduced or absent breath sounds on one side
indicating fluid, or air in a pleural cavity, or the collapse of a lung. Listen for this sign while
he is supine, as in Fig. 65-7. (4) High pitched breath sounds suggesting a tension
pneumothorax.

The two coin test Place a coin on the patient’s chest and tap it with another coin. A bell–
like note (combined with other signs) suggests a tension pneumothorax.

OTHER SIGNS OF A CHEST INJURY

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ABDOMEN Examine this carefully. Note any tenderness, rigidity or distension. If a
patient’s lower left ribs are fractured posteriorly, think of a ruptured spleen. If he is tender
in his right upper abdomen, suspect a ruptured liver. Fractures of the lower 6 ribs can cause
abdominal tenderness without there being any injured abdominal viscera.

FRACTURED RIBS If a patient is not too ill, gently spring his chest from front to back, or
from side to side, between your hands. If this causes severe pain he has probably broken
some ribs. Feel for the tender fracture sites. They will be easier to feel than to see on an X–
ray.

PULSE Is this stronger on inspiration than on expiration? Is his jugular venous pressure
raised? These are both signs of cardiac tamponade (65.9).

X–RAY all patients you suspect of having a serious chest injury. X–rays are not necessary
to diagnose fractured ribs (which are difficult to see), but are a useful way of making sure
that a patient’s lungs and pleural cavities are normal. Unless other injuries prevent it, try to
take an erect x–ray. if he cannot stand, you may be able to support him sitting up on a
trolley for the very short period that is necessary for a film to be taken.

Examine the films systematically noting first his rib cage and other bones, then his trachea
and lungs, and finally his heart and mediastinum. Look for rib fractures by holding the film
obliquely, and looking along each rib.

If you have to X–ray him lying flat on a trolley, try to give the table a slight head up tilt.
The films may show a large pneumothorax or a haemothorax, fractured ribs, or surgical
emphysema. They will not show a small pneumothorax, or a fluid level in a
haemopneumothorax.

Haemothorax

A diffuse opacity in a lower lung field, which is more easily seen in an erect film. A
haemothorax may not be easy to diagnose radiologically, so rely on your stethoscope.

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 Figure 65.2: DRAINING AIR AND BLOOD FROM THE CHEST is much the most
valuable procedure in chest injuries, and all that most patients need. A, two drains are better
than one drain, but, if you do use one drain, leave a sufficiently long length of tube inside
the chest with holes near the entry of the tube through the chest wall. B, two tubes, upper
and lower are better than one. The bottom tube must be low in the chest if blood is to drain
properly. Kindly contributed by James Cairns.

Pneumothorax

(1) The lung markings do not reach all the way out to the edge of the thoracic cage. (2) You
can see the pleura as a faint line. (3) The apices look different.

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Contusion of the lung

Diffuse mottling with dense patches in places. These intensify in the next few days and then
clear.

Aortic injury

If the patient’s mediastinum is significantly widened, check the pulses in each of his arms
and in each side of his neck. He may have injured his aorta or the great vessels at the root
of his neck.

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