What Is A Flail Chest?

Flail Chest — defined as two or more contiguous rib fractures with two or more breaks per rib — is one of the most serious of these injuries and is often associated with considerable morbidity and mortality. It occurs when a portion of the chest wall is destabilized, usually from severe blunt force trauma. This alters the mechanics of breathing so that the floating segment of chest wall and soft tissue moves paradoxically in the opposite direction from the rest of the rib cage.

Video created by our partners at Master Your Medics. https://www.masteryourmedics.com/