What is flail chest?

Broken ribs: Flail chest occurs when a segment of the chest wall moves independent of the rest with respiration due to multiple rib fractures. It is usually the result of major trauma.

Flail chest : Flail chest is defined as three or more consecutive rib fractures with 2 or more fractures in each rib. It leads to impaired breathing.

See below: Flail chest, multiple ribs fractured in multiple places on one side of the chest, can cause inability of the lung to expand on that side. Usually ventilator support and underlying lung healing will allow the ribs to heal on their own. Rarely surgery is needed to fixate the ribs if there is too much damage or lack of self-healing.

Fix them: I fix them using plate and screw constructs. I've developed a muscle sparing technique that works well. It has been shown to improve patient outcomes and speed up time to get out of the hospital and icu.