Hosts: Patrick Georgoff, MD and Jayne McCauley, MD

This…episode….covers…rib…fractures…sorry, I am splinting.  Was that a fever?  Am I developing pneumonia?!  Could this have been avoided with regional anesthesia? Or surgical fixation?  Tune in to find out everything you need to know about the management of rib fractures.

References:

• Kasotakis G, Hasenboehler EA, Streib EW, et al. Operative fixation of rib fractures after blunt trauma: A practice management guideline from the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma. J Trauma Acute Care Surg 2017; 82:618.
• Carver TW, Milia DJ, Somberg C, et al. Vital capacity helps predict pulmonary complications after rib fractures. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2015 Sep;79(3):413-6.
• Galvagno SM Jr, Smith CE, Varon AJ, et al. Pain management for blunt thoracic trauma: A joint practice management guideline from the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma and Trauma Anesthesiology Society. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2016 Nov;81(5):936-951.
• Cheema FA, Chao E, Buchsbaum J, et al. State of Rib Fracture Care: A NTDB Review of Analgesic Management and Surgical Stabilization. Am Surg. 2019 May 1;85(5):474-478.
• Pieracci FM, Leasia K, Bauman Z, et al. A multicenter, prospective, controlled clinical trial of surgical stabilization of rib fractures in patients with severe, nonflail fracture patterns (Chest Wall Injury Society NONFLAIL). J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2020;88(2):249. 
• Pieracci FM, Coleman J, Ali-Osman F, et al. A multicenter evaluation of the optimal timing of surgical stabilization of rib fractures. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2018;84(1):1.