SynthesisEuropean journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society2023
Surgical versus non-surgical treatment of flail chest: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis 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 8 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Revised cardiac risk index and adverse outcomes in patients undergoing surgical stabilization of rib fractures.BMC surgery · 2026Article
- An Overview of Meta-Analyses on the Surgical Stabilization of Rib Fractures in Adults: A Narrative Umbrella Review (2020-2025).Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Review
- Comparative clinical study of total thoracoscopic surgery and thoracoscopy-assisted small-incision surgery for multiple rib fractures.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Pain management in non-operatively treated patients with multiple single rib fractures: an international comparison.European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2026Article
- Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery surgical stabilization of rib fractures: surgical technique and case report.Journal of visualized surgery · 2026Article
- Regional anaesthesia techniques for management of severe chest wall trauma: a major trauma centre retrospective observational study.European journal of trauma and emergency surgery : official publication of the European Trauma Society · 2025Observational
- Relevant and Independent Scientific Publications: The Path of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses.Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia · 2025Article
- Ultra minimally invasive surgical stabilization of Rib fractures (uMI-SSRF): reduction and fixation techniques to minimize the surgical wound.World journal of emergency surgery : WJES · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeConflicting evidence exists on the choice of surgical or non-surgical treatment of flail chest injuries. We aimed to perform a meta-analysis comparing outcomes in patients presenting flail chest undergoing surgical or non-surgical treatment.
methodsEmbase, PubMed, and Cochrane databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing surgery to no surgery in patients with acute unstable chest wall injuries. We computed weighted mean differences (WMDs) for continuous outcomes and risk ratios (RRs) for binary endpoints, with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Random effects meta-analyses were performed. Heterogeneity was assessed using I
resultsSix RCTs (544 patients) were included, and surgical treatment was used in 269 (49.4%). Compared to no surgery, surgery reduced mechanical ventilation days (WMD - 4.34, 95% CI - 6.98, - 1.69; p < 0.01; I
conclusionsOur results suggest that surgical treatment is advantageous compared to non-surgical treatment for patients with flail chest secondary to rib fractures.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.