Chest Trauma Information

Chest trauma causes a great deal of death in the United States every year. Blunt injury to the chest is the most common chest trauma, and this blunt injury can affect some or all of the chest wall and thoracic cavity (although thoracic trauma is slightly different). The components that can be injured are the bony skeleton (like the ribs, sternum, scapulae, and clavicles), esophagus, heart, lungs, and the diaphragm. Chest injury and trauma affects some of the very important parts and components of our bodies, which is why it is so very dangerous and is a significant source of mortality today.

Chest Trauma Throughout History

Chest trauma has been reported since nearly the beginning of time. The first known writings on chest trauma date back to the fifth century in Hippocrates’ writings. These writings have a series of chest trauma reports, and they do include thoracic trauma as well. The Edwin Smith Surgical Papyrus was written somewhere around three thousand to sixteen hundred BC also has chest trauma reports and treatment options.

Death Information On Chest Trauma

Trauma in general is the first leading cause for morbidity, hospitalization, disability, and even death in Americans from the age of one to around the mid fifties. Many traumas are caused by accidents, and as such almost one hundred thousand people die every year in the United States from accidents (not including car accidents).

Trauma itself is also responsible for about one hundred thousand deaths every year in the United States. Based on emergency room records and speculation, it has been estimated that twelve out of every million people have chest injury and trauma every day. However, not all of these injuries require any hospitalization at all. An estimated thirty three percent of these chest injuries and chest traumas require hospital admission. For these one hundred thousand deaths per year, blunt thoracic injuries are responsible for about twenty to twenty five percent of them and chest trauma contributes for another fifty percent of deaths.

Causes Of Chest Trauma

The leading cause for blunt chest trauma is motor vehicle accidents. These accidents are responsible for about seventy to eighty percent of blunt chest injuries. Because of this, many preventative measures to reduce these often times fatal car accidents have been put in place. There are speed limit restrictions and many states require seat belts. For children, there are some strict car seat laws in many states. Other causes of blunt chest injuries are pedestrians being struck by vehicles, acts of violence, blast injuries, and falls.