Pattern and outcome of penetrating chest injuries at the Emergency Management Center in Erbil City

Background and objective: Trauma to the chest is a life-threatening condition because the chest contains many vital organs such as the heart, multiple blood vessels, and lungs. This study aimed to identify the pattern and outcome of the war-related penetrating chest injuries at the Emergency Management Center, Erbil, during the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria conflict. Methods: This retrospective study involved 154 chest injured victims at the Emergency Management Centre in Erbil City. Data were collected from the Statistics Department of this hospital from June 2014 to July 2017. Results: The mean (SD) age of the victims was 25.75 ± 11.567 years. The majority of the cases were young (61%), male (85.1%), Kurds (72.1%), and injured outside Erbil governorate (40.9%). The leading cause of injury was bullet injury (74.7 %). Provision of the first aid before admission was high (87%). Most victims did not have any other injuries (66.9%). Surgical operations were performed to the majority of victims (93.5%). Most of them did not develop any complications (78.6%), with only 21.4% of the cases had some complications. The development of the complications was significantly associated with the presence of other injuries (68.6% vs. 83.5%, P = 0.034). Conclusion: During the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria related war in Iraq, chest injury by gunshot had increased. The Emergency Management Center provides a suitable medical service that helped in reducing complications and deaths. The development of complications was significantly associated only with the presence of multiple injuries.