Background: This study aims to compare the trauma scores by evaluating chest traumas both with the injury severity score (ISS) and the new injury severity score (NISS) and to assess the risk factors affecting the prognosis.

Methods: A total of 1126 patients with chest trauma (898 males, 228 females; mean age 45.9 years; range 9 to 97 years) monitored in the Thoracic Surgery Clinic between January 1998 and December 2008 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients with blunt trauma were classified as group 1, and patients with penetrating trauma were classified as group 2. Patients were evaluated for their gender, age, type of trauma, comorbidities, habits, clinical signs, extrathoracic injuries, type of treatment, morbidity, and mortality. The ISS and NISS scores were estimated according to the trauma scales.

Results: Of the patients, 82.3% (n=927) had blunt trauma and 17.7% (n=199) had penetrating trauma. The mean ISS of the patients with blunt trauma was 15±8.8 (range; 2-66), while the mean NISS was 19±10.6 (range; 3-66). The mean ISS of the patients with penetrating trauma was found to be 10±5.6 (range; 2-35), while the mean NISS was 14±8.8 (range; 2-59). The mortality rate of the patients with ISS and NISS >25 was statistically significantly higher (p<0.05). Compared to ISS, NISS was found to be superior in determining mortality in blunt traumas (AUC; NISS=0.899, ISS=0.888). The difference between NISS and ISS for the evaluation of penetrating traumas was not statistically significant (AUC; NISS=1.00, ISS=1.00). In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients with ISS and NISS 0-15 and ≥16, mortality and morbidity were statistically significant (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Risk factors are important in determining the clinical course of traumas. Neither ISS nor NISS have parameters to asses the risk factors. We believe that evaluation of chest traumas both with trauma scores and risk factors would be more realistic in determining the prognosis, and further studies are required to confirm.

Keywords : Chest trauma; injury severity score; new injury severity score