You can do thoracotomy in a 'non-trauma' arrest in circumstances which
prevent adequate CPR, for example: severe congenital chest deformity,
or in asthma where the chest is stented by the overdistended lungs.
I have only been involved in 1 case where the patient survived long
enough to require closure of their thoracotomy after arrest, (19 year
old, out-of-hospital arrest secondary to PE) and the thoracic surgeons
closed the chest in layers, in A&E. Unfortunately the patient died
fairly soon afterwards.
Nicky Drake
SpR A&E, Chertsey
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