ArticleEuropean journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society2023
Does the timing of surgery affect outcomes in young and middle-aged patients undergoing surgical stabilization of rib fractures? Feedback was based on real data from physicians, patients, and family caregivers.
Article in European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- A study on the optimal timing for Rib fracture surgery: A report from a single center is earlier surgery always better?Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2026Article
- Chest Wall Injury Society guidelines for surgical stabilization of rib fractures: Indications, contraindications, and timing.The journal of trauma and acute care surgery · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is a general clinical consensus that early surgical stabilization of rib fractures (SSRF, ≤ 48-72 h after admission) can benefit patients, and this is only regarding the surgeon's opinions. This study assessed the true outcomes of young and middle-aged patients at different surgical timings.
methodsThis retrospective cohort study was conducted among patients aged 30-55 years who were hospitalized with a diagnosis of isolated rib fractures and underwent SSRF between July 2017 and September 2021. The patients were divided into early (≤ 3 days), mid- (4-7 days) and late (8-14 days) groups, according to the interval (days) between surgery and injury date. The impact of different surgical timings on clinical outcomes, patients, and families was assessed by comparing SSRF-related data during hospitalization and follow-up studies of clinicians, patients themselves, and family caregivers 1-2 months after surgery.
resultsIn this study, 155 complete patient data were finally included, including 52, 64, and 39 patients in the early, mid, and late groups, respectively. Length of operation, preoperative closed chest drainage rate, length of hospital stay, intensive care unit length of stay, duration of invasive mechanical ventilation in the early group were lower than those in the intermediate and late groups. Additionally, hemothorax and excess pleural fluid incidence after SSRF was lower in the early group than in the intermediate and late groups. Postoperative follow-up results showed that patients in the early group had higher SF-12 physical component summary scores and shorter duration of absence from work. Family caregivers had lower Zarit Burden Interview scores than those in the mid- and late groups.
conclusionFrom the experience of our institution's SSRF, early surgery is safe and offers additional potential benefits for young and middle-aged patients and families with isolated rib fractures.
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