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Complications caused by a scapular body fracture are rare, and usually occur due to concomitant injuries or nonunion. Intrathoracic displacement of a fractured scapula has only been described in two reports involving adolescents. In this report, we describe a 6-year-old boy with a parenchymal lung injury caused by a greenstick fracture fragment of the scapular body after being struck by a dump truck. Three-dimensional CT (3D CT) scan showed an incomplete fractured fragment impaling the left lung parenchyma resulting in pneumothorax, parenchymal contusion, and pneumatocele in the left upper lobe. The patient underwent emergency open reduction of the scapular fracture and chest tube insertion. A rare subtype of scapular fracture with resultant fragment rotation and intrathoracic penetration can injure the lung parenchyma. To the best of our knowledge, lung injury caused by incomplete fracture of the scapula in patients younger than 10 years has not been reported previously.

The authors present a case report of a 38-year-old man who suffered combined gunshot injuries of the heart and lungs from a small caliber gun. The gunshot resulted in combined injuries of a penetrating wound of the left lung, the right heart chambers and the right lung which were successfully managed despite a delay in surgery of several hours by pledget sutures of the heart wounds, wedge resection of the lingula and right lower lung lobectomy performed via a clamshell thoracotomy.

Most patients with chest trauma can be successfully treated with tube thoracostomy and appropriate pain medication. Initial care of these patients is usually straightforward and performed by an emergency doctor or an emergency room surgeon, e.g. a general surgeon. If more extensive therapy of these polytraumatized patients appears to be required, tertiary care should be done in specialized centers or clinics with network structures. An appropriate structured network of surgical centers guarantees sufficient and efficient care of patients with severe chest trauma. In a best-case scenario the specialist disciplines work in a rendezvous system with close cooperation. Early communication with a thoracic surgeon is essential to minimize mortality and long-term morbidity. Improvement in understanding the underlying molecular physiological mechanisms involved in the various traumatic pathological processes and the advancement of diagnostic techniques, minimally invasive approaches and pharmacologic therapy, will contribute to decreasing morbidity of these critically injured patients.

In cases of multiple trauma in patients with an injury severity score (ISS) > or =16 chest injuries, abbreviated injury scale (AIS) > or =3, are also sustained in 57.2% of all patients. Life-threatening complications may occur with lung contusions and rib fractures also in combination with hemothorax/pneumothorax being the most common diagnoses. In addition the lungs can also be functionally impaired by ruptures of the great thoracic vessels or in isolated cases by herniation of lung tissue following tears in the wall of the thorax. A case of multiple trauma in a 44-year-old male (ISS 29) with blunt thoracic trauma resulting in herniation of the middle lobe of the right lung into the subcutaneous tissue due to a coarsely dislocated fracture of the sternum is reported. This still ventilated lung tissue was surgically resituated 4 weeks after the event and the sternum fracture was simultaneously stabilized by plate osteosynthesis. Clinical examination and awareness of the possibility of other injuries (high level of suspicion) are essential. Therefore, standard diagnostic procedures combined with multislice computed tomography during the first examination and reassessment should be included to avoid missed injuries.