Original ArticleSternal Fractures Occur Most Often in Old Cars to Seat-Belted Drivers Without Any Airbag Often With Concomitant Spinal Injuries: Clinical Findings and Technical Collision Variables Among 42,055 Crash Victims
Section snippets
Material and Methods
In a statistical retrospective analysis of car collision files from January 1, 1985, to December 31, 2004, the incidence and mechanism of 267 sternal fractures among a total number of 42,055 injured patients involved in a vehicle accident were examined. Regarding the data used from this governmental database, the local ethical committee agreed to use the data without the individual consent of each patient; all data were used anonymously. The accident files had been prepared by scientific teams
Results
In all, 42,055 injured patients were included in this study from 1985 to 2004, where technical and medical information was available for assessment. Of these, 267 patients (0.64%) suffered a sternal fracture, and 41,788 patients were injured in a traffic accident and assessed without a sternal fracture. The distribution regarding the type of vehicle in sternal fractures is displayed in Table 1, demonstrating cars as the main vehicle involved in sternal fractures.
Comment
Sternal fractures occur most often in old cars to seat-belted drivers. Severe multiple rib fractures and lung contusion are concomitant injuries in more than 10%, indicating the severity of the crash. Eighteen percent of all patients having a sternal fracture were classified as polytrauma patients, with an overall survival rate of 86.1%. We found that 11.2% die at the scene, and we found a 30-day mortality rate of 2.3%.
These data reveal that sternal fractures oftentimes are associated with
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Man With Chest Pain After a Traffic Crash
2023, Annals of Emergency MedicineA retrospective study on the cardiac assessment of isolated sternal fracture patients based on radiographic and clinical outcomes
2021, Annals of Medicine and SurgeryCitation Excerpt :Thoracic traumas are associated with a significant number of mortality and morbidities since it includes vital organs like the lungs and the heart [2,3]. Isolated sternal fractures are caused by blunt trauma and are benign, however, depending on the nature and the severity of the fracture [4], patients are required to be assessed for supporting injuries [5,6]. Among trauma patients, 0.33% patients are reported with sternal fractures [7].
Stairlike fracture of the sternum
2017, CMAJSternal fractures and thoracic injury: an analysis of 288 sternal fractures attending a major trauma centre
2023, European Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology
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Both authors contributed equally to this work.