Video-assisted Nuss bar insertion to stabilize a flail chest

Author Info

Rolf Inderbitzi Francesco Mongelli Miriam Patella Stefano Cafarotti

Corresponding Author

Francesco Mongelli
Thoracic Surgery, San Giovanni Hospital, Bellinzona, Switzerland

A B S T R A C T

Surgical stabilization of flail chest decreases mortality, complications and costs. A 48-year-old male sustained a cardiac arrest followed by successful cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. An anterior flail chest due to bilateral rib fractures and a sternal fracture led to respiratory failure. A surgical stabilization of the flail chest was indicated, and a minimally invasive approach was preferred. A titanium plate for the sternum and a Nuss bar for rib fractures were successfully placed, followed by full and prompt recovery. It is an effective and safe procedure since minimizes the surgical trauma with benefits of chest wall stabilization.

Article Info

Article Type

Case Report

Publication history

Received: Fri 18, Jan 2019
Accepted: Tue 26, Feb 2019
Published: Sat 30, Mar 2019

Copyright

© 2023 Francesco Mongelli. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Hosting by Science Repository.
DOI: 10.31487/j.JSR.2019.01.02