An objective index to estimate the survival rate of primary blast lung injury.

To supply proper treatments to the primary blast lung injury (PBLI) patients, it is important to estimate the severity of the primary blast lung injury in accordance with the blast conditions. In this study, a blast-induced mechanical parameter (first principal stress) of lung was calculated using a finite element thorax model and the correlation between the survival rate of the subjects with blast-induced lung damage and an objective index that was related to the first principal stress of the lung model. This study propose the objective index for the estimation of the degree of PBLI. The results have a potential clinical application to improve the efficacy of treatment for blast injury patients.