Flail chest occur after blunt trauma to the thorax. Most often treatment of\nflail chest is conservative with analgesia and respiratory support, if needed.\nNew plate systems and surgical approaches have improved outcomes after\nsurgery. Surgical treatment of flail chest is associated with a reduced risk of\nsevere pneumonia, shorter time with mechanical ventilation and a reduced\nlength of stay in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) compared to conservative\ntreatment. However, currently approximately 1% of patients with flail chest\nundergo surgery. We are presenting two cases of flail chest treated surgically\nby fixating the most dislocated posterior fractures. One patient avoided mechanical\nventilation, and the other patient was quickly weaned from respirator\nafter surgery. We found that surgical stabilization of posterior fractures in\npatients with flail chest is a safe method with a high possibility of positive\noutcomes for the patients. Surgical stabilization of flail chest is indicated in\npatients with consistent pain (case 1) and increased risk of pneumonia, respiratory\nfailure or prolonged mechanical ventilation (case 2). Furthermore, it\nwas possible to achieve stable thorax wall by only fixating the most dislocated\nposterior fractures in the flail segment.
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