What Is a Sucking Chest Wound and How’s It Treated?
A sucking chest wound is a type of chest injury caused by bullets or other projectiles. A bullet may enter through the neck, pass through the lungs, and exit from the back wall of the throat. The bullet may even go all the way through without exiting out of one side of the body. When this happens it is called an “open” shot. Other types of wounds include shots fired from close range (such as when someone shoots at you) and shots fired from far away (like when someone shoots at a target).
Sucking chest injuries are common in war zones where there is constant fighting between soldiers and civilians. They can occur anywhere, but they are most likely to happen during combat situations. Sucking chest injuries usually do not cause any lasting damage because the victim will survive long enough to get medical attention.
However, if left untreated, these injuries can lead to death.
The main causes of chest wounds are gunshots and shrapnel. Bullets and shrapnel can come from many different sources such as artillery shells, grenades thrown by soldiers, machine gun fire from tanks or helicopters, mortars dropped by aircrafts or landmines planted during conflicts. Injuries due to gunfire and shrapnel can be fatal since they often hit vital organs like the heart and brain causing them to stop working completely.
A sucking chest wound is often caused by a bullet that enters or exits the body because the bullet either crushed or took out the ribs. When this happens, air inside the lungs is forced out and can escape through the hole in the chest where the bullet came from. Other times, a sucking chest wound may be caused by a piece of shrapnel from a bomb or some other explosive device.
When this happens, air may be trapped inside the body near the wound. Air may also become trapped inside the lung.
A sucking chest wound can only occur in a person who has been shot and has a bullet hole through their body or has been struck by shrapnel. It is important to remember that a sucking chest wound is different from an open chest wound. An open chest wound occurs when the ribs are broken or damaged but the skin over the chest remains intact.
An open chest wound will not cause air to leak out of the body or escape through a hole in the skin.
The first thing that a doctor may do in treating a sucking chest wound is to apply pressure directly over the wound using a sterile bandage to stop air from escaping. If air cannot escape from the wound, then there is no need for it to be replaced which can be potentially fatal for the victim. The doctor may also place a tube inside the wound and into the chest to allow air to escape from the body and be replaced by medical professionals.
Bandages are then wrapped around the chest to hold the tube in place. The victim will also be given pain medication at this time.
If a sucking chest wound is not treated quickly, the victim can go into cardiac arrest and die. Even if the victim survives, there is still a high risk of infection. The sucking sound that occurs with these wounds is often a sign that an infection has set in.
In most cases, doctors will keep the patient on antibiotics to ward off infection for as long as necessary.
Chest wounds should always be treated as soon as possible to prevent permanent lung damage and other longer-term complications.
Sources & references used in this article:
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Vented versus unvented chest seals for treatment of pneumothorax and prevention of tension pneumothorax in a swine model by BS Kheirabadi, IB Terrazas, A Koller… – Journal of Trauma …, 2013 – cdn.journals.lww.com
The use of cranial osteopathy in the treatment of infants with breast feeding problems or sucking dysfunction by N Westcott – Australian Journal of Holistic Nursing, The, 2004 – search.informit.com.au
Rupture of the Bronchus following Closed Injury to the Chest: Report of a Case treated by Immediate Thoracotomy and Repair by JG Scannell – Annals of Surgery, 1951 – ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
How shall we train for combat casualty care? by RF Bellamy – Military Medicine, 1987 – academic.oup.com
Pathophysiology and management of acute corrosive burns of the esophagus: results of treatment in 285 children by JA Haller Jr, HG Andrews, JJ White, MA Tamer… – Journal of pediatric …, 1971 – Elsevier
