Emergency War Surgery NATO Handbook: Part IV: Regional Wounds and Injuries: Chapter XXVIII: Wounds and Injuries of the Chest

Trapped Lung/Empyema

United States Department of Defense

These chronic complications of thoracic trauma have the potential to become important sources of morbidity in future wars, unless the lessons learned in the past are remembered. Trapped lung results from incomplete early evacuation of blood from the pleural space with subsequent replacement of the fibrin clot by fibrous tissue, which, as it contracts, squeezes the lung into a nonfunctioning organ. Vital capacity is reduced and arterial hypoxemia may be apparent. Empyema, a frequent cause of death in World War I thoracic casualties, is another manifestation of inadequate evacuation of a hemothorax.

Approved for public release; Distribution is unlimited.

The listing of any non-Federal product in this CD is not an endorsement of the product itself, but simply an acknowledgement of the source. 

Operational Medicine 2001

Health Care in Military Settings

This web version is provided by The Brookside Associates Medical Education Division.  It contains original contents from the official US Navy NAVMED P-5139, but has been reformatted for web access and includes advertising and links that were not present in the original version. This web version has not been approved by the Department of the Navy or the Department of Defense. The presence of any advertising on these pages does not constitute an endorsement of that product or service by either the US Department of Defense or the Brookside Associates. The Brookside Associates is a private organization, not affiliated with the United States Department of Defense.

Contact Us  ·  ·  Other Brookside Products