What is the optimal timing to perform surgical stabilization of rib fractures?

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Abstract

The practice of surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF) for severe chest wall injury has exponentially increased over the last decade due to improved outcomes as compared to nonoperative management. However, regarding in-hospital outcomes, the ideal time from injury to SSRF remains a matter of debate. This review aims to evaluate and summarize currently available literature related to timing of SSRF. Nine studies on the effect of time to SSRF were identified. All were retrospective comparative studies with no detailed information on why patients underwent early or later SSRF. Patients underwent SSRF most often for a flail chest or ≥3 displaced rib fractures. Early SSRF (≤48–72 hours after admission) was associated with shorter hospital and intensive care unit length of stay (HLOS and ICU-LOS, respectively), duration of mechanical ventilation (DMV), and lower rates of pneumonia, and tracheostomy as well as lower hospitalization costs. No difference between early or late SSRF was demonstrated for mortality rate. As compared to nonoperative management, late SSRF (>3 days after admission), was associated with similar or worse in-hospital outcomes. The optimal time to perform SSRF in patients with severe chest wall injury is early (≤48–72 hours after admission) and associated with improved in-hospital outcomes as compared to either late salvage or nonoperative management. These data must however be cautiously interpreted due the retrospective nature of the studies and potential selection and attrition bias. Future research should focus on both factors and pathways that allow patients to undergo early SSRF.

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Association of timing of surgery for hip fracture and patient outcomes.

Megan McLaughlin, L. Kristopher Siu, Linda R. Morrison … (2004)

Previous studies of surgical timing in patients with hip fracture have yielded conflicting findings on mortality and have not focused on functional outcomes. To examine the association of timing of surgical repair of hip fracture with function and other outcomes. Prospective cohort study including analyses matching cases of early ( 24 hours) surgery with propensity scores and excluding patients who might not be candidates for early surgery. Four hospitals in the New York City metropolitan area. A total of 1206 patients aged 50 years or older admitted with hip fracture over 29 months, ending December 1999. Function (using the Functional Independence Measure), survival, pain, and length of stay (LOS). Of the patients treated with surgery (n = 1178), 33.8% had surgery within 24 hours. Earlier surgery was not associated with improved mortality (hazard ratio, 0.75; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.52-1.08) or improved locomotion (difference of -0.04 points; 95% CI, -0.49 to 0.39). Earlier surgery was associated with fewer days of severe and very severe pain (difference of -0.22 days; 95% CI, -0.41 to -0.03) and shorter LOS by 1.94 days (P<.001), but postoperative pain and LOS after surgery did not differ. Analyses with propensity scores yielded similar results. When the cohort included only patients who were medically stable at admission and therefore eligible for early surgery, the results were unchanged except that early surgery was associated with fewer major complications (odds ratio, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.07-0.95). Early surgery was not associated with improved function or mortality, but it was associated with reduced pain and LOS and probably major complications among patients medically stable at admission. Additional research is needed on whether functional outcomes may be improved. In the meantime, patients with hip fracture who are medically stable should receive early surgery when possible.

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Half-a-dozen ribs: the breakpoint for mortality.

Shelly Flagel, Fred A Luchette, Christopher B Davis … (2005)

We hypothesized that the number of rib fractures independently impacted patient pulmonary morbidity and mortality. The National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB, v. 3.0 American College of Surgeons, Chicago, IL) was queried for patients sustaining 1 or more rib fractures. Data abstracted included the number of rib fractures by International Classification of Diseases-9 code, Injury Severity Score, the occurrence of pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, pulmonary embolus, pneumothorax, aspiration pneumonia, empyema, and associated injuries by abbreviated injury score, the need for mechanical ventilation, number of ventilator days, intensive care unit (ICU) length of stay (LOS), hospital LOS, mortality, and use of epidural analgesia. Statistical analysis was performed using the Student t test and linear regression analysis. Statistical significance was defined as a P value of less than .05. The NTDB included 731,823 patients. Of these, 64,750 (9%) had a diagnosis of 1 or more fractured ribs. Thirteen percent (n = 8,473) of those with rib fractures developed 13,086 complications, of which 6,292 (48%) were related to a chest-wall injury. Mechanical ventilation was required in 60% of patients for an average of 13 days. Hospital LOS averaged 7 days and ICU LOS averaged 4 days. The overall mortality rate for patients with rib fractures was 10%. The mortality rate increased (P < .02) for each additional rib fracture. The same pattern was seen for the following morbidities: pneumonia (P < .01), acute respiratory distress syndrome (P < .01), pneumothorax (P < .01), aspiration pneumonia (P < .01), empyema (P < .04), ICU LOS (P < .01), and hospital LOS for up to 7 rib fractures (P < .01). An association between increasing hospital LOS and number of rib fractures was not shown (P = .19). Pulmonary embolism also was not related to the number of rib fractures (P = .06). Epidural analgesia was used in 2.2% (n = 1,295) of patients with rib fractures. A reduction in mortality with epidural analgesia was shown at 2, 4, and 6 through 8 rib fractures. The use of epidural analgesia had no impact on the frequency of pulmonary complications. When stratifying data by Injury Severity Score and the presence or absence of rib fractures the mortality rates were similar. Increasing the number of rib fractures correlated directly with increasing pulmonary morbidity and mortality. Patients sustaining fractures of 6 or more ribs are at significant risk for death from causes unrelated to the rib fractures. Epidural analgesia was associated with a reduction in mortality for all patients sustaining rib fractures, particularly those with more than 4 fractures, but this modality of treatment appears to be underused.

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Impact of timing of surgery in elderly hip fracture patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Thomas Klestil, Christoph Röder, Christoph Stotter … (2018)

We aimed to assess the impact of timing of surgery in elderly patients with acute hip fracture on morbidity and mortality. We systematically searched MEDLINE, the Cochrane Library, Embase, PubMed, and trial registries from 01/1997 to 05/2017, as well as reference lists of relevant reviews, archives of orthopaedic conferences, and contacted experts. Eligible studies had to be randomised controlled trials (RCTs) or prospective cohort studies, including patients 60 years or older with acute hip fracture. Two authors independently assessed study eligibility, abstracted data, and critically appraised study quality. We conducted meta-analyses using the generic inverse variance model. We included 28 prospective observational studies reporting data of 31,242 patients. Patients operated on within 48 hours had a 20% lower risk of dying within 12 months (risk ratio (RR) 0.80, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.66–0.97). No statistical significant different mortality risk was observed when comparing patients operated on within or after 24 hours (RR 0.82, 95% CI 0.67–1.01). Adjusted data demonstrated fewer complications (8% vs. 17%) in patients who had early surgery, and increasing risk for pressure ulcers with increased time of delay in another study. Early hip surgery within 48 hours was associated with lower mortality risk and fewer perioperative complications.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): J Thorac Dis

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): J Thorac Dis

Journal ID (publisher-id): JTD

Title: Journal of Thoracic Disease

Publisher: AME Publishing Company

ISSN (Print): 2072-1439

ISSN (Electronic): 2077-6624

Publication date (Print and electronic): August 2021

Publication date (Print): August 2021

Volume: 13

Issue: Suppl 1

Pages: S13-S25

Affiliations

[1 ]deptDepartment of Surgery, Denver Health Hospital & Authority , University of Colorado School of Medicine , Denver, CO, USA;

[2 ]deptTrauma Research Unit Department of Surgery , Erasmus University Medical Center , Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Author notes

Contributions: (I) Conception and design: All authors; (II) Administrative support: JTH Prins; (III) Provision of study materials or patients: All authors; (IV) Collection and assembly of data: JTH Prins; (V) Data analysis and interpretation: All authors; (VI) Manuscript writing: All authors; (VII) Final approval of manuscript: All authors.

Correspondence to: Jonne T. H. Prins, MD. Department of Surgery, Denver Health and Hospital Authority, 777 Bannock Street MC 0206, Denver, 80204 CO, USA. Email: j.prins@ 123456erasmusmc.nl .

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ORCID: Jonne T. H. Prins, 0000-0001-5782-9520; Mathieu M. E. Wijffels, 0000-0003-0423-4675.

Article

Publisher ID: jtd-13-S1-S13

DOI: 10.21037/jtd-21-649

PMC ID: 8371546

PubMed ID: 34447588

SO-VID: bc309762-1377-42ea-a801-4b4985693c3d

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Open Access Statement: This is an Open Access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which permits the non-commercial replication and distribution of the article with the strict proviso that no changes or edits are made and the original work is properly cited (including links to both the formal publication through the relevant DOI and the license). See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0.

History

Date received : 13 April 2021

Date accepted : 13 July 2021

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What is the optimal timing to perform surgical stabilization of rib fractures?

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Sex and gender-sensitive medicine

Most cited references 90

Association of timing of surgery for hip fracture and patient outcomes.

Half-a-dozen ribs: the breakpoint for mortality.

Impact of timing of surgery in elderly hip fracture patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

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