Chest trauma

Penetrating wounds to the chest can be immediately life threatening, requiring quick decision making and the right intervention. Everyone in the emergency department will be looking at you as the surgeon on the scene. Do you know what to do and why you'd be doing it? In this audio podcast Andrew Deytrikh talks about the management of penetrating chest trauma with Adam Brooks. Mapped to ISCP objectives, differentiation between haemo and pneumothorax, safe chest drain insertion, needle pericardiocentesis, cardiac tamponade and the indications for resuscitative trauma thoracotomy are all discussed. Andrew Deytrikh is a core trainee in surgery at the Royal Derby Hospital and Adam Brooks OBE is a consultant trauma surgeon and clinical lead for the East Midlands Major Trauma Centre in Nottingham, UK.