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Management of Traumatic Rib Fractures

Dr Danny McLaughlin1†

1Anaesthetics Consultant, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, Treliske, Cornwall, UK

Edited by: Dr Lara Herbert, Anaesthetics Consultant, Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust, Treliske, Cornwall, UK

†Corresponding author email: dannymclaughlin@nhs.net

Published 12 May 2020

Abstract

Rib fractures are commonly encountered injuries in blunt chest trauma.
The number of ribs fractured and age are predictors of complications.
Respiratory failure is the major complication (atelectasis, pneumonia, pulmonary contusion).
There is a high likelihood of patients requiring intubation and ventilation if they have a flail segment.
Multimodal analgesia and regional anaesthetic techniques are the mainstays of treatment.

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This work by WFSA is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/