Treatment of rib fracture

The treatment principles of rib fracture are analgesia, clearing respiratory secretions, fixing the chest, restoring the function of chest wall and preventing complications. 1. Treatment of single closed rib fracture. Due to the support of the upper and lower ribs and intercostal muscles at both ends of the fracture, dislocation occurs, with little activity, and most of them can heal automatically. Fixing the chest is mainly to reduce the activity of the fracture end and relieve the pain. Methods: wide rubber strip fixation, multi-band chest cloth fixation or elastic chest band fixation. The treatment principle of simple rib fracture is pain relief, fixation and prevention of lung infection. If necessary, analgesic can be given orally or intramuscularly. 2. The treatment of flail chest can correct abnormal respiratory movement, resist shock, prevent infection and deal with compound injury. When the softening range of chest wall is small or located on the back, the abnormal breathing movement may not be obvious or serious, and local pad pressure dressing can be used. However, when the floating range exceeds 3 cm, it can cause serious respiratory and circulatory dysfunction, and when it exceeds 5 cm or bilateral flail chest soft chest syndrome, it can quickly lead to death, so emergency treatment must be carried out. 3. The treatment of open fracture should be thoroughly debrided as soon as possible. Remove bone fragments and inanimate tissues, bite off broken ends, and avoid stabbing surrounding tissues. If intercostal vessels are damaged, the proximal and distal ends of the broken vessels should be sutured respectively. Cutting off a section of intercostal nerve is beneficial to relieve postoperative pain. Patients with pleural injury were treated as open pneumothorax. Routine injection of tetanus antitoxin serum and antibiotics after operation to prevent infection. Most rib fractures can heal spontaneously within 2 ~ 4 weeks, and the treatment does not emphasize the joint of broken ends like limb fractures.