Survival in dogs undergoing surgery with thoracic trauma | VETgirl Veterinary Continuing Education Podcasts

In this VETgirl online veterinary continuing education podcast, we review thoracic trauma in dogs. In the emergency room, we criticalists frequently see patients that have sustained both blunt and penetrating thoracic trauma from a variety of causes, with the most common being vehicular trauma and bite wounds. Thankfully, the prognosis for trauma is generally fair to good, with a reported 90% survival (Hall). However, in patients requiring thoracic surgery, the prognosis is worse. Previous studies have shown a range of short-term mortality rates ranging from 10-44%.