[Thoracic epidural analgesic (TEA) or controlled ventilation in the treatment of patients with multiple rib fractures (author's transl)].

In the last seven years 283 trauma patients were treated for multiple rib fractures and/or flail chest. Primary management consisted of only morphine analgesia in 16 patients, TEA in 112 patients, and mechanical ventilation in 155 patients. The indication for mechanical ventilation was always associated injuries (cerebral contusion, para- and tetraplegia, aspiration, severe lung contusion) and not the instability of the thoracic cage.