Time to resolution of radiologically detected hemothorax in trauma patients: A retrospective observational study

Table 1 Descriptive analysis of trauma patients diagnosed with hemothorax on admission, n (%)

Demographic information	Value
Mean age (SD) years	38.6 (15.06)
Males	384 (90.9)
Mechanism of injury
Motor vehicle crashes	154 (36.5)
Fall	117 (27.7)
Pedestrian	54 (12.8)
Associated injuries
Head	119 (28.2)
Abdomen	145 (34.4)
Spine	176 (41.7)
Pelvis	99 (23.5)
Injury scores; mean (SD)
Chest AIS	3.1 (0.26)
Head AIS	3.6 (0.99)
Abdomen AIS	2.9 (1.08)
Spine AIS	2.2 (0.68)
ISS	20.3 (11.26)
Other chest injuries
Pneumothorax	266 (63.0)
Lung contusion	203 (48.1)
Rib fracture	368 (87.2)
Interventions
Intubation	127 (30.1)
Chest tube insertion	101 (23.9)
Outcomes	Days
ICU LOS; Median (IQR)	5 (2-14)
Mortality (after clearance)	5 (1.2)

AIS: Abbreviated injury score; ISS: Injury severity score; ICU: Intensive care unit; LOS: Length of stay; IQR: Interquartile range.

Table 2 Comparative analysis of chest injuries and tube thoracostomy in right, left, and bilateral hemothorax patients (n = 422), n (%)

	Hemothorax right (n = 149; 35.3)	Hemothorax left (n = 156; 37.0)	Bilateral hemothorax (n = 117; 27.7)	P value
Chest injuries
Pneumothorax	96 (64.4)	94 (60.3)	76 (65.0)	0.661
Lung contusion	65 (43.6)	78 (50.0)	60 (51.3)	0.388
Rib fracture	125 (83.9)	133 (85.3)	110 (94.0)	0.032
Clearance by days
0-3 days	105 (70.5)	79 (50.6)	60 (51.3)	0.004 for all
> 3-7 days	19 (12.7)	31 (19.9)	21 (17.9)
> 7-14 days	14 (9.4)	16 (10.3)	18 (15.4)
> 14 days	11 (7.4)	30 (19.2)	18 (15.4)
Clearance with tube thoracostomy (chest tube) insertion	n = 30 (20.1)	n = 33 (21.2)	n = 38 (32.5)
Chest tube 0-3 days	17 (56.7)	10 (30.3)	17 (44.7)	0.389 for all
Chest tube > 3-7 days	8 (26.7)	11 (33.3)	9 (23.7)
Chest tube > 7-14 days	3 (10.0)	7 (21.2)	5 (13.2)
> 14 days	2 (6.7)	5 (15.2)	7 (18.4)
Clearance without chest tube insertion	n = 119 (79.9)	n = 123 (78.8)	n = 79 (67.5)
0-3 days	88 (73.9)	69 (56.1)	43 (54.4)	0.007 for all
> 3-7 days	11 (9.2)	20 (16.3)	12 (15.2)
> 7-14 days	11 (9.2)	9 (7.3)	13 (16.5)
> 14 days	9 (7.6)	25 (20.3)	11 (13.9)

Table 3 Time to clearance of hemothorax in patients with and without tube thoracostomy regardless of laterality in hemothorax

	Total clearance (n = 539)	Clearance with TT (n = 139)	Clearance without TT (n = 400)	P value
Time of clearance
Clearance 0-3 days	304 (56.4)	61 (43.9)	243 (60.8)	0.001 for all
Clearance 3-7 days	92 (17.1)	37 (26.6)	55 (13.8)
Clearance > 7-14 days	66 (12.2)	20 (14.4)	46 (11.5)
> 14 days	77 (14.2)	21 (15.1)	56 (14.0)

TT: Tube thoracostomy.