THORACIC AND CARDIOVASCULAR SURGEON, cilt.54, sa.8, ss.560-562, 2006 (SCI-Expanded)
Bronchial ruptures due to blunt chest traumas are rarely encountered injuries. They can be missed in the emergency room depending on the clinical findings. We present a case report of a previously healthy 32-year-old woman who received multiple rib and clavicula fractures on the right side in a traffic accident. The plain radiograms taken on the first and fifth day showed no other pathological findings than the above-mentioned fractures. Her control chest radiography, which was taken 7 weeks later, showed a totally opaque left hemithorax but no findings of pneumothorax were present. Fiberoptic bronchoscopy and virtual bronchoscopy showed a left main bronchial rupture. The patient was treated with an end-to-end anastomosis via left posterolateral thoracotomy.