WAR INJURIES OF THE LUNGS

Objective: The authors' experience in the treatment of war injuries of the lungs, gained during the war in Croatia, from August 25, 1991 unt il July 1, 1995, is presented. In that period, 424 patients with injur ies of the lungs were treated at the Split Clinical Hospital. Methods: The paper is a retrospective study of 424 wounded persons with lung i njuries gained during the war in Croatia, processed by basic statistic al analysis. Results: Penetrating and nonpenetrating wounds were prese nt in 331 (78.1%) and 93 (21.9%) patients, respectively. There were 40 7 (96.0%) men and 17 (4.0%) women. Explosive wounds were most frequent (n = 251; 59.2%), followed by gunshot wounds (n = 158; 37.3%) and oth er types of wounds in 15 (3.5%) patients only. Thoracotomy was perform ed in 89 (22.9%) patients, whereas conservative surgical methods (woun d treatment, chest-tube drainage, appropriate fluid therapy, antimicro bial and atelectasis prophylaxis) were used in 300 (77.1%) patients. A great majority of the patients (n = 395; 93.2%) were discharged as fu lly recovered or in improved condition, 22 (5.2%) patients were referr ed to other institutions for further treatment, and seven (1.7%) wound ed persons died. Conclusions: It is shown that most war wounds of the lungs can be successfully managed by 'conservative' surgical treatment . (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.