Abstract

ARAUJO-C, Juan C.. IS THE NON-SURGICAL CONSERVATIVE MEDICAL MANAGEMENT IN PATIENTS WITH TRAUMATIC HEMOTHORAX SECURE?. Biosalud [online]. 2018, vol.17, n.1, pp.31-39. ISSN 1657-9550.  https://doi.org/10.17151/biosa.2018.17.1.4.

The hemothorax is defined as the presence of a collection of blood in the pleural space. The objective of this research was to determine if conservative nonsurgical management of traumatic hemothorax is safe. A descriptive and prospective study of a cohort of patients admitted with a diagnosis of chest trauma complicated with hemothorax was carried out from January 2013 to December 2016, in the Thorax Surgery Unit at the Hospital Dr. Adolfo Pons of the Instituto Venezolano de los Seguros Sociales (IVSS) in Maracaibo, Venezuela. A total of 150 patients were evaluated, the mean age was 30.9 years (range 24-65 years), with a predominance in males 85.2%. In most cases, the thoracic trauma was non-penetrating (60%), and the most frequent cause was bullet wounds (48%), car accident (26.6%), and bladed weapon wounds (25.3%). The right hemithorax was the most affected (53.3%). The volume of drained blood was classified in mild (25.3%), moderate (70.6%) and massive (3.9%). The treatment carried out in the first intention, in the 80% of the cases, was closed thoracostomy with a pleural catheter (24 Fr). However, in 13.3% of patients, it was necessary to perform open surgery on the pleural space (exploratory thoracostomy). The evolution of the patients was satisfactory in a 100% of the cases.

Keywords : traumatic hemothorax; thoracic injuries; nonsurgical; conservative; management; closed thoracostomy.

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