Forty-three patients who underwent thoracoscopic evacuation methods were stratified into Group 1. The remaining 45 patients who underwent evacuation plus resection and repair by thoracoscopic methods were stratified into Group 2. The characteristics and demographics are listed in Table 2. The distributions of age and gender of the two groups were comparable, along with a comparable proportion of flail chest, number of rib fractures and mean AIS of chest. However, Group 2 had slightly higher grades in injury severity scores (ISSs), but there was no statistical and clinical significance (16.40 ± 4.46 vs 18.07 ± 5.84, P = 0.134).
Table 2: Comparison of patient characteristics and demographics between two groups with different surgical interventions
Evacuation (43)Group 1 Evacuation with resection-repair (45)Group 2 P-value
Age 54.95 ± 14.87 52.24 ± 17.26 0.432
Gender (male) 34 (79.1%) 37 (82.2%) 0.708
Number of fractured ribs 5.93 ± 2.93 5.36 ± 2.52 0.327
Flail chest 18 (41.9%) 18 (40.0%) 0.859
Patients with lung contusion involving more than two lobes 40 (93.0%) 43 (95.6%) 0.608
Pulmonary contusion score 7.84 ± 2.79 8.47 ± 1.63 0.203
Acute respiratory failure in 4 h after trauma 19 (44.2%) 15 (33.3%) 0.296
Time from trauma to VATS 7.30 ± 6.54 6.31 ± 2.59 0.356
ISS 16.40 ± 4.46 18.07 ± 5.84 0.134
AIS chest 3.19 ± 0.39 3.31 ± 0.47 0.178
AIS: abbreviated injury score; ISS: injury severity score.