Results of Thoracotomy in Penetrating Chest Trauma

Background: thoracotomy is a surgical procedure to access the chest components, which is often performed after severe bleeding caused by heart damage, lung laceration and other similar injuries.materials and methods: this is a cross-sectional study which was conducted on all patients with penetrating chest trauma during april 2000 to october 2008.results: in 5% of cases, thoracotomy was used for treatment in which severe bleeding was the main surgical indication. it was the most common finding followed by lung laceration thoracotomy.conclusion: most urban injuries are treatable by chest tube. about 3 to 10 percent of cases may require a thoracotomy in which severe bleeding is the most common indication of surgery.