Abstract: Objective:To sum up our experiences in the treatment of traumatic flail chest.Methods:From January 1979 to October 1999, 62 patients with traumatic flail chest were treated. 14 cases received operations and 48 were nonoperations, including 36 cases without chest fixing and 12 with pressure chest fixing.Results:58 cases were cured. 4 patients were dead, two died from traumatic shock, two died of respiratory failure and severe head injury.Conclusions:Synthetical treatment was chiefly adopted by the therapy of pulmonary contusion , but the effect of chest fixiation should not be excluded.