Posted on 12/16/2017 6:26:54 PM PST by conservatism_IS_compassion
. . . The typical scene of the conventional method which attaches a plate to the outer surface of a broken rib, has the patient on his side, a slab of flesh from waist to armpit folded back to reveal the pale ribs and the red intercostal muscles . . .The surgery is so hard on patients that it is only used in cases with multiple breaks especially of adjacent ribs. Such a cluster of broken ribs causes"Flail chest," a condition where that section of the rib cage moves opposite the way it's supposed to move, interfering with the ability to breathe. The broken ribs have to be stabilized or the person runs a high risk of dying to due to pneumonia or other infections.
For patients who break just one rib or who don't have flail chest the surgery isn't worth the trauma; standard treatment is to leave the rib alone. “You take aspirin go home and suffer," says McKay. “For weeks.” . . .
A broken rib hurts every time the broken ends move, which is every time you breathe. That can lead to serious problems especially for older patients and others whose lung capacity is limited. To minimize the pain, you breathe as shallowly as possible, which leads to fluid build-up in the lungs which leads to infections which puts you on a ventilator or in the morgue. Because of how much they compromise the ability to breathe normally, broken ribs are the second leading cause of trauma deaths.
Attaching the plate to the inner surface of the broken rib, the side facing the lungs, would be less traumatic than the standard procedure because it would leave the overlying tissue largely undisturbed. A device already existed for doing some types of minimally invasive surgery in the chest: the thoracoscope, which carries a fiber optic cable through a short slit in the chest wall and transmits live images to a video monitor. The view from a thoracoscope inserted low in the rib cage looks like a room in the cave smooth arched walls listening pink and white from this vantage point most of the ribs are visible and can be fixed without repositioning the scope. The surgeon can see exactly where the break is - something not always possible from the outside or even with an x-ray. “Once you are oriented to where things are, you have a wonderful magnified high-definition view," says Haluck.
. . . A Penn State group designed new hardware and a system that lets them bring a plate and screws into the chest cavity through two short slits above the broken rib while the thoracoscope provides a view of the injury from a slit lower down. Their procedure is much quicker than the conventional method - less than one hour, compared to several hours - which greatly reduce the cost of the operation. Most importantly, the group says, by being so much less traumatic than the conventional surgery, it should be recovery, he patients off the ventilator, and get them back to their normal activities sooner . . .
The system [is] now named AdvantageRib . . .
If AdvantageRib continues to prove itself the team's next step is to ask leading surgeons around the country to try it.
. . . Nationwide around 100,000 people per year are seen at trauma centers suffering from multiple broken ribs . . . [and there are] hundreds of thousands more with just one broken rib, especially seniors for whom repair might be excellent option now that there is a minimally invasive way to do it.
I tried to dictate/type enough of an excerpt to motivate some interest - considering that Senator Paul is suffering from broken ribs. And that the affliction might affect a FReeper now and then . . .
Note that this advance, if such it proves to be, would reduce cost as well as getting improved results.
Good information never the less.
I was thinking a good rub and low and slow...
Broken ribs 3 times, ages 10, 29, and 38, so I hope I’m done.
Me too very disappointed lets hijack the thread
Me too! Oh well, at least clicking on it wasn’t a basted effort.
No, no, no. First you beer-steam them at 250 for two or three hours. Then you put them on the top rack and get a bed of moist hickory wood steaming on your coals in the smoker box. When those die down, get the coal in the charcoal side going, then close the lid when the flames taper off. Brush and flip every few minutes with a good Kansas City style BBQ sauce, until that bark around the edges caramelizes and gets crispy. The meat is literally fall-off-the-bone tender.
Sounds like a great thing.
Rib fractures suck. Never had them, but not for lack of trying. Just been lucky, I guess. I was a third base coach in a baseball game one time and wasn’t looking, and got hit in the mid ribs with a blistering line drive.
For about a month, every time I breathed, I got a stabbing pain which eventually became a dull pain.
The worst thing for me was when I was managing the pain and something would cause me to cough or involuntarily inhale sharply, like accidentally bumping against something or if I forgot and tried to say something, or..if someone said something funny that made me laugh.
I don’t know if my rib was cracked or broken, but it couldn’t have been more than one single bloody rib.
I cannot imagine breaking three or four of them in a line...just cannot imagine it.
The trick is don’t go light on the mesquite BBQ sauce.
Beer steaming is a must! Marinate in sauce overnight and slow roast. Now I’m hungry!
I was hoping for the same when I clicked on it.
Makes me feel even more sympathetic toward Rand Paul.
I've broken my pelvis, a thumb and an elbow. Of the three, the elbow is the worst as it will never fully heal.
Breaking bones is miserable.
Great Iink and read bookmarked for later too
Although if you are oven cooking the ribs in foil before putting them on the grill the juice from inside the packet makes a wonderful glaze when cooked down.
Note: These are GRILLED ribs not Barbecued Ribs. All of them wonderful in their porky ways.
That’s my plan tomorrow.
I peel off the white membrane on the underside of the ribs before smoking.
My bones don’t break despite best efforts to do so in my youth
I have turn my sternum once and another time the cartilage between several of my ribs ....Drs said both times I would have been better off breaking ribs as they would have healed faster...Nothing like sleeping sitting up in a chair for a xouple months
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