Tracheobronchial injuries

Abstract

A 27-year-old man, formerly in good health, arrived at the local trauma center after a high-speed rollover motor vehicle crash. He was in frank shock, with bilateral tension pneumothoraces. The team intubated him immediately and placed bilateral chest tubes. A computed tomography scan of the head showed severe traumatic brain injury with diffuse axonal injury and intraventricular bleeding. Additional injuries included bilateral full-thickness burns to his lower extremities, multiple facial fractures, multiple rib fractures, and pulmonary contusion.