Although trauma surgery is a relatively new discipline in surgery, trauma injuries are not. They are the leading cause of death among young people in the United States. Trauma injuries are classified as either blunt (motor vehichle crash, assault with a baseball bat) or penetrating (gunshot wound, stab wound, embedded object).
Most trauma surgeons recommend that any object that has caused a penetrating wound NOT be removed before the patient is in the operating room with trained professionals. This is because as horrific as the injury appears to be with a knife protruding from the chest wall, it is possible that the knife is blocking further bleeding that can be unleashed in a life-threatening hemorrhage if it is removed. In fact, even trained trauma surgeons do not remove penetrating objects until they are in a position to control and replace this expected bleeding if it should occur.
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