A 52 year old man fell down from first floor and injured his right chest. He developed severe pain in right lower chest and had difficulty in breathing and coughing. His chest X ray showed fracture of 5 ribs on his right side . He was admitted in our center and managed conservatively. Though he slowly developed Hemothorax on right side, he was observed well intensively and managed conservatively. He took about 2 weeks to recover completely.
His serial Chest X rays showed no increase in the hemothorax. His last X ray showed complete remission of hemothorax. (Done at the end of 5 weeks after the fall) Many a times one jumps to intervene with a large bore needle or an ICD to drain a Hemothorax. I feel such patients can be managed with no intervention also. One should be careful and be ready to intervene at any time if such a situation arises. Intensive monitoring is the essence in managing…
