Chest injury | |
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Other names | Chest trauma, Commotio thoracis |
A chest X-ray of a right sided pulmonary contusion associated with flail chest and subcutaneous emphysema | |
Specialty | Emergency medicine |
A chest injury, also known as chest trauma, is any form of physical injury to the chest including the ribs, heart and lungs. Chest injuries account for 25% of all deaths from traumatic injury.[1] Typically chest injuries are caused by blunt mechanisms such as direct, indirect, compression, contusion, deceleration, or blasts[2] caused by motor vehicle collisions or penetrating mechanisms such as stabbings.[3]