Delayed bronchial rupture repair. A revisit to mucus basics

Abstract

Blunt trauma to the chest accounts for most thoracic injury cases. Tracheobronchial injuries are rare. They require high index of suspicion to diagnose and manage promptly. We present a case of left main bronchial rupture, in which delayed surgical repair was carried out after more than a year from the initial injury with complete resolution of the injury. This report adds to the literature the feasibility of aiming for surgical repair regardless of the delayed duration. The emphasis was drawn to the cellular and mucus preservative capacity to combat infection in these chronically collapsed lungs.