ABSTRACT
Severe injury to the chest wall or intrathoracic organs is a rare occurrence in children. The data of the National Pediatric Trauma Registry (United States) show that 86 percent causes of thoracic injuries were blunt (falls from a height, bicycle or motor vehicle accidents), while 14 percent were penetrating (gunshot or stab wounds). Boys are more commonly affected than girls (ratio 2:1). In the author’s region, traffic accidents account for 43 percent, falls from heights for 24 percent, sports accidents for 13 percent, and accidents related to farming work for 8 percent of all thoracic injuries in children. In one third of the cases, significant additional injuries, mainly head injuries, were present. Mortality is high in cases of penetrating injuries, but much lower in blunt trauma, chiefly related to the concomitant cerebral injury.
