Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Interventional
Official Title: Operative Versus Non Operative Management of Flail Chest: A Randomized Controlled Feasibility Study
Brief Summary:
Flail chest refers to a section of the rib cage that has broken away from the surrounding ribs. Usually, more than one rib is involved, and they are broken in at least two places. Flail chest typically is the result of blunt chest trauma. As a result of flail chest, the chest wall becomes unstable and dangers of life threatening respiratory failure and hypoxemia (lack of oxygen to circulating blood which will lead to organ damage or failure)occur.
Currently, these injuries are treated non operatively. However, small case series have demonstrated that operative management can improve Intensive Care Unit (ICU) length of stay, improved pulmonary function and decreased pain leading to decreased duration of mechanical ventilation, and the incidence of complications related to this injury.
This study hopes to provide information on whether a prospective randomized trial is feasible by first undertaking a small pilot study to determine rate of recruitment, data collection methods, and integrity of study protocol.
Null Hypothesis 1: Enrollment of subjects with flail chest rib fractures into a prospective multi-centre RCT is not feasible and a larger clinical trial is unlikely to be completed.