SEATTLE, Oct. 10, 2012 - You can't put a cast on a broken rib, but the FDA recently approved a new treatment that speeds recovery from months to weeks.
When you break a bone in your arm or leg, doctors immobilize the limb, allowing the bones to knit back together. But that's not possible with ribs, so recovery can be long and painful. And during that long recovery, the broken ribs can do serious damage to your organs. Ribs move every time you breathe, putting you at risk for punctured lungs, spleen, liver, or kidneys.
However, there is a new and simple fix that can reduce broken rib recovery time from months to weeks and help people avoid those dangerous complications. It's called rib plating.
For more information about Swedish Thoracic Surgery's Rib Fracture Clinic, click here.
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Media Coverage
- Swedish Thoracic Surgery physician Eric Vallieres, M.D., who performs the procedure, was recently interviewed about rib plating for a two-minute-long video news story on EverydayHealth.com.
- To watch a related story KING 5 Television (NBC) aired Nov. 29, 2012, click here.
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