[The treatment of respiratory failure in severe chest injury (author's transl)].

The use of artificial ventilation versus conservative treatment in 101 patients with severe chest injuries is reconsidered, because major ventilation therapy carries a high incidence of complications. This technique within the past few years has increasingly been replaced by differentiated conservative respiratory treatment. On the basis of a retrospective study it is concluded that under special conditions even the unstable chest accompanied by respiratory insufficiency may be treated successfully by this technique.