Treatment of flail chest with Judet's struts.

This report describes our experience with the operative stabilization of flail chest with the use of Judet's struts. In a series of 18 patients with flail chest, the method allowed shorter duration of artificial ventilation and decreased functional sequelae. We find this technique to be better than previously published methods, since it provides better stabilization and immobilization of the ribs and thus obviates the need for artificial ventilation.