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WILLIAM D. SEYBOLD, M.D.

AMA Arch Surg. 1960;81(3):473-478.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

A powerful compressive blow to the chest may produce a tracheobronchial rupture without damage to the chest wall. In a review of the literature through January, 1959, reports of 90 such injuries were found. The theory which seems to account most satisfactorily for the rupture was suggested by Schönberg,¹⁰ i.e., high intraluminal pressure. As a result of a crushing force in the presence of a closed glottis, intrabronchial pressure greatly exceeds intrathoracic pressure and produces an explosive action which tears the trachea or a bronchus, or both. In approximately one-half the reported cases the victims were thrown violently under the wheel of a vehicle or were struck by one; one-third were crushed in an automobile collision, and the remainder were hurt in a fall or crushed beneath or between heavy objects.

Although the setting for tracheobronchial rupture is a common occurrence, the lesion is rare. Of 216 consecutive patients . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
Houston, Texas

From the Surgical Service of St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital and the University of Texas Postgraduate School of Medicine.

Footnotes
Submitted for publication Nov. 18, 1959.

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