Abstract

Background
Despite growing national attention, traumatic injury remains the most common cause of mortality in children, and the clinical manifestations of blunt chest trauma in children are different from those in adult. Methods: We reviewed retrospectively the cases of 45 children patients who were diagnosed with blunt chest trauma and managed in Mok-dong Hospital, Ewha Women’s University, from August 1995 to April 2003. Patients with a simple chest wall contusion were excluded. Results: The mean age was 6.5 ± 3.1 years, and 3-to 8-year-old children were most common. The main cause of blunt chest trauma was traffic accident (37 cases 82%, P<0.01). Pulmonary contusion was the most common injury (34 cases 76%), followed by rib fracture. Pulmonary contusion, tended to be prevalent at a younger age and rib fractures at a older age. However, this difference was not statistically significant (P>0.05). All patients were managed conservatively for chest injury, and two patients died of severe hypoxemia and hemorrhage. The mortality was 4%. Conclusions: The clinical manifestations of blunt chest trauma in children were different from those in adult, and most patients were managed conservatively with good results. More driver's attention is required to protect children from traffic accident, especially those involving larger car (vans, trucks, buses, and so on) and during backing a car.

• Keywords: Blunt chest trauma, Pulmonary contusion, Rib fracture