Chronic Rib Fractures

If someone comes in to your ICU falling from stairs while in a drunken stupor and you see the above chest XR - you know the patient has done it before.

The image above demonstrates old healed rib fractures in a patient with chronic alcoholism.

Falling from the standing height could cause significant injuries and even lethal head trauma. For many alcoholics it could be a “recurrent medical condition”

I once admitted a patient three times for the same problem... falling from the bar stool.