Melissas J, Diamantis T, Mannell A
S Afr Med J. 1986 Nov 8;70(10):588-9.
During an 8-month period, 242 patients with thoracic injuries were admitted to one of the general surgical units at Baragwanath Hospital. Of these, 7.4% required surgical exploration, while 92.6% had pneumothorax treated conservatively by insertion of a single drain at the mid-axillary line in the 5th intercostal space. Of patients managed conservatively 76 had pneumothorax and 148 haemopneumothorax. There were no deaths in this series. All patients explored recovered well from the operation and were discharged after a mean period of 6 days. Of those with a pneumothorax managed conservatively full expansion of the lung was obtained in 98.7%. In 80% of the patients with haemopneumothorax, axillary intercostal drainage proved adequate treatment and resulted in prompt re-expansion of the lung. However, 6.8% of the patients in this group required further needle aspiration of the pleural cavity and in 2.7% a second drain was inserted for evacuation of residual blood. Eight (5.4%) patients were discharged with a small and insignificant residual haemothorax.
在8个月的时间里，242例胸部受伤患者被收治入巴拉格瓦纳特医院的一个普通外科病房。其中，7.4%的患者需要进行手术探查，而92.6%的气胸患者通过在腋中线第5肋间插入一根引流管进行保守治疗。在保守治疗的患者中，76例为气胸，148例为血气胸。该系列病例中无死亡病例。所有接受探查的患者术后恢复良好，平均6天后出院。在保守治疗的气胸患者中，98.7%的患者肺完全复张。在80%的血气胸患者中，腋肋间引流被证明是充分的治疗方法，并导致肺迅速复张。然而，该组中有6.8%的患者需要进一步进行胸腔穿刺抽气，2.7%的患者需要插入第二根引流管以排出残留血液。8例（5.4%）患者出院时胸腔内有少量且不显著的残留积血。
