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Case of the Week 353




What's the most likely diagnosis?

  • 24 year-old in motor vehicle rollover accident



Frontal Supine Chest Radiograph

  1. Pneumonia
  2. Clavicular fracture
  3. Pulmonary embolism
  4. Flail chest
  5. Mitral stenosis

Additional Image - Axial CT of upper left thorax

 

Additional Image

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Axial CT image of upper left thorax

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Answer:

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4. Flail Chest

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More (Click Discussion Tab)


Flail Chest

General Considerations

  • Segment of thoracic cage is separated from remainder of chest wall by significant blunt chest trauma
  • Relatively uncommon, but potentially life-threatening
  • Definition varies from two fractures per rib for two contiguous ribs to two fractures per rib for three contiguous ribs
  • Sternum may also be involved with ribs on both sides of chest
  • Severity of underlying lung and cardiac injury are clinically more important than fractures themselves

    More ...


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    LearningRadiology.com
    is an award-winning educational website aimed primarily at medical students and radiology residents-in-training, containing  lectures, handouts, images, Cases of the Week, archives of cases, quizzes, flashcards of differential diagnoses and “most commons” lists, primarily in the areas of chest, GI, GU cardiac, bone and neuroradiology.