Nhu Nguyen Duc, Chinh Pham Quoc
Objectives: To study characteristics of rib fracture in chest trauma cases through clinical forensic medicine for assessment body damage rate.
Subjects and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study of 90 victims with rib fracture due to thoracic trauma assessed to determine the rate of body injury at the National Institute of Forensic Medicine of Vietnam from January 2018 to October 2022.
Results: The total of 90 cases of rib fracture, more than three ribs fracture accounted for the highest rate with 32 cases (35.55%), one rib fracture accounted for 26 cases (28.9%), three ribs fracture with 18 cases (20%), two ribs fracture accounted for the least with 14 cases (15.55%). Seventh rib was the most common fracture rib in the study with 42 out of 90 cases (51.57%), followed by eighth rib (40%), other rib fracture accounted for less, concentrated mainly around seventh and eighth ribs. The first rib is the least common fracture rib (2.22%). Lateral arch and anterior arch of ribs are the most common fracture sites with 26 cases (28.89%) and 24 (26.67%) respectively, posterior arch fractures account for a lesser proportion with 19 cases (21.1%), fracture combining multiple arcs of 21 cases (23.33%). The most common associated injury in rib fractures was pleural injury (28.89%), combined injuries in 21 cases (23.33%), 9 cases of lung parenchymal damage (10%), 6 cases of clavicle fracture (6.67%) and no related injuries (22.22%). In total of 60 cases asked to identify the injured object, the group that caused the injury was blunt objects with the majority of 57.78%; due to sharp objects were 6.67%, unknown cause of injury accounted for a low rate with 2.22%