Clinical Challenges in Trauma Surgery: Traumatic Rib Fractures

In this episode, our team discusses the management of traumatic rib fractures including pearls and pitfalls. Join as we discuss the current standards of treatment as well as controversies in how to manage these patients! Hosts:  Elliott R. Haut, MD, PhD, a senior, nationally recognized name in trauma and acute care surgery at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Haut is a past president of The Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST) and incoming editor-in-chief of Trauma Surgery and Acute Care Open. Marcie Feinman, MD, MEHP, the current program director of General Surgery Residency at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore and editorial board member of SCORE. She received her Masters in Education in the Health Professions from Johns Hopkins.  David Sigmon, MD, MMEd, a PGY-7 resident at the University of Illinois at Chicago who will be a fellow at Lincoln Medical Center in the Bronx next year. He did two years of research in surgical education at the University of Pennsylvania where he also received his Master’s in Medical Education.  LITERATURE Terry SM, Shoff KA, Sharrah ML. Improving blunt chest wall injury outcomes: introducing the pic score. J Trauma Nurs. 2021;28(6):386-394. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34766933/ Witt CE, Bulger EM. Comprehensive approach to the management of the patient with multiple rib fractures: a review and introduction of a bundled rib fracture management protocol. Trauma Surg Acute Care Open. 2017;2(1):e000064. https://tsaco.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000064 Utter GH, McFadden NR. Rib fractures, the evidence supporting their management, and adherence to that evidence base. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(3):e201591-e201591. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2763488 Dehghan N, Nauth A, Schemitsch E, et al. Operative vs nonoperative treatment of acute unstable chest wall injuries: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Surgery. Published online September 21, 2022. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamasurgery/article-abstract/2796556 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(3):618-626. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28030502/ Please visit https://behindtheknife.org to access other high-yield surgical education podcasts, videos and more.   If you liked this episode, check out other trauma episodes here: https://behindtheknife.org/podcast-category/trauma/