Operative Resection of a Chronic Flail Chest Nonunion Revealing Septic Pseudarthrosis: A Case Report
We report a case of chest wall resection for painful chest wall nonunion, 5 years after traumatic flail chest and a first attempt at surgical treatment. The decision was made to perform surgery again after 2 years of unsuccessful well-conducted analgesic treatment. During surgery, we found the sa...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Korean Society for Thoracic & Cardiovascular Surgery
2023-11-01
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| Series: | Journal of Chest Surgery |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | We report a case of chest wall resection for painful chest wall nonunion, 5 years after
traumatic flail chest and a first attempt at surgical treatment. The decision was made to
perform surgery again after 2 years of unsuccessful well-conducted analgesic treatment.
During surgery, we found the same sites of pseudarthrosis and decided to perform parietectomy
of the fifth, sixth, and seventh ribs. A Gore-Tex patch was used to bridge the gap
created by the resection. In immediate postoperative care, the patient’s pain was quickly
and sufficiently eased by stage 1 and 2 pain killers. The results of bone samples taken
from the pseudarthrosis sites all found Propionibacterium acnes. Five months after surgery,
the patient had considerable improvement in pain sensations. Computed tomography
showed healing of ribs, the plate in place, and no sign of complications. |
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| ISSN: | 2765-1606 2765-1614 |