The study entitled pattern of thoraco-abdominal injuries in rural region was carried out at rural medical college, loni, was done over a period of two and half years from january 2005 to june 2007, and consists of 173 cases of thoraco-abdominal injuries, out of which 118 were admitted to pravara rural hospital for treatment and 55 were brought dead to the hospital. Out of 118 admitted cases of thoraco- abdominal injuries to hospital 80 were treated and discharged and remaining 38 died during the treatment, thus out of 173 cases of thoraco-abdominal injuries 93 were autopsied and 80 treated and discharged. Present study revealed that 82.6% of victims were males and mostly in age group of 21 – 40 years i.e. 53.75% among both fatal and non-fatal groups. Accidental occurrence of thoraco-abdominal injuries was commonest followed by homicidal and suicidal. Among accidental occurrences road traffic accidents was the commonest cause for thoraco-abdominal injuries (84.9%), study also revealed that a majority of victims of thoraco-abdominal injuries i.e. 32.25% died on the spot, 23.64% died within 12 hours of sustaining injuries, 6.45% of victims survived for 1 to 7 days and only 3.22% were survived for more than a week after sustaining a injuries. Pattern of thoraco-abdominal injuries shows that the commonest injury of thoracic region was fracture of ribs among both fatal and non-fatal categories and most commonly affected thoracic organs were lungs (32.31%) and injuries to heart comprises for only 4.04%. Among abdominal injuries the most commonly affected organ was liver (20.23%) followed by spleen (16.18%) and kidneys (12.71%) and among hollow viscus injury to intestine was more frequent i.e. 7.51% followed by injuries to urinary bladder 6.93% and stomach 2.89%.

Key words: thoraco-abdominal, manner, pattern, injury.