Other potential complications include atelectasis, lung infection, pneumothorax, sepsis, respiratory distress, hypotension, tachycardia, pneumonia, adhesions, and impaired lung function. Epidemiology
Trauma to the thorax results in approximately 16,000 to 30,000 deaths every year. There are about 300,000 cases of hemothorax in the U.S every year. Polytrauma (injury to multiple body systems) involves chest injuries in 60% of cases and commonly leads to hemothorax. In a case study, 37% of people hospitalized for blunt chest trauma had traumatic hemothorax. Hemothorax commonly occurs with a displaced rib fracture. Other animals
Horses
In horses, hemothorax is uncommon and usually traumatic. It may occur along with pneumothorax. It is mainly diagnosed by ultrasound. Treatment involves supportive care, correction of the underlying cause, and occasionally drainage. The prognosis is variable. Hemothorax is usually caused by trauma to the thorax. It can result from any injury that involves the pleural, intercostal, intervertebral, cardiac, or thoracic wall muscle. It can rarely be caused by diaphragmatic rupture that results in abdominal herniation. Hemothorax can be caused be cancers involving the thoracic, pulmonary, and mediastinal wall. The most common cancer resulting in hemothorax is a hemangiosarcoma.Clinical signs and symptoms may be variable and cause-dependant. They may include rapid breathing, pain, and shallow breathing in cases with a rib fracture. In the case of extensive bleeding, signs of hypovolemia may occur, and rapid death may result within hours. In less acute cases with slower bleeding, anemia and hypoproteinemia may gradually develop.Ultrasound can detect blood in the pleural cavity.
Accessory breasts, also known as polymastia, supernumerary breasts, or mammae erraticae, is the condition of having an additional breast. Extra breasts may appear with or without nipples or areolae. It is a condition and a form of atavism which is most prevalent in male humans, and often goes untreated as it is mostly harmless. In recent years, many affected women have had a plastic surgery operation to remove the additional breasts, for purely aesthetic reasons. A related condition, in which extra nipples form, is called "supernumerary nipple" or "polythelia". Presentation
In some cases, the accessory breast may not be visible at the surface. In these cases, it may be possible to distinguish their appearance from normal breast tissue with MRI. In other cases, accessory breasts have been known to lactate, as illustrated in a drawing showing a child nursing at ectopic breast tissue on the lateral thigh. There is some evidence that the condition may be more common in Native American populations. Cause
Polymastia typically occurs in the womb during the development. During normal development, breast tissue will develop along the milk line, and additional tissue will disintegrate and be absorbed into the body. Polymastia occurs when the additional tissue does not disintegrate before birth. This condition can be inherited. See also
Artemis § As the Lady of Ephesus (fertility goddess with many breasts)
Fleischers syndrome

References

A Paper on the Appearance of Multiple Mammaries in Humans, R. Eghardt, Oxford University Press (1923)
Weird Diseases, B. Hargreaves and M. Wallette, Emu Publishing (2007)


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