What is reconstructive surgery for flail chest?

Rare: True flail chest is quite uncommon, and most often a result of severe trauma. It is a result of several serious rib fractures, resulting in inability of the rib cage and attached muscles to help the lung expand properly for breathing. Often it will heal on its own, and if surgery is needed the ribs would be bridged back together with metal plates.

Depends: For some of these surgeries, we have to rebreak the bones to line them up where they need to be. If the fractures haven't healed, we can line them up and use bone graft.

Flail chest: Either bone realignment or tendon transfers are used.