From January 1981 through December 1985, 481 thoracic civilian injuries were reviewed in the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Paik Hospital in Seoul. Sixty two percent of the injuries were caused by traffic accident, 18% fall down, 15% blunt trauma, 2% crushing injury, 2% stab wound, and 0.4% gunshot wound. Peak incidence of the trauma victim was fourth and fifth decades revealing 22% and 27% respectively. Sex ratio was 3.5:1 with male predominance. Elapsed time before admission was less than one hour in 36% and one to six hour in 30%. The types of the injuries were as follows: Non-penetrating injuries were the most part of the wounded, 97.6%. Rib fracture was the most common lesion occupying 292 patient out of 481 [61%]. Of these 292 patients, 72% was multiple rib fracture. The incidence of hemothorax or hemopneumothorax was 19% [102 patients] [Table 4]. Most common associated condition was head injuries, 98 patients [14%]. Thoracoabdominal injuries were seen in 31 patients [0.6%]. Tube thoracostomy was the definitive measures in the 20% of the wounded. Open thoractomy was performed in 5%. Additional procedures for the associated condition were done in the 16% of the cases, for example, reduction of long bone fracture and trephination for the head injury. Among 481 wounded, fatal complication occurred in 13 patients [2.7%]. This paper has also compared two series of patients according to period; one from 1970 to 1980 and the present series [Table 8]. Conclusively, the fatal complications or trauma death may be reduced by the effort 1] rapid transport of the victim, 2] initial correction or resuscitative measures of the circulatory and ventilatory deficit 3] early decision of definitive thoracostomy or thoracotomy and 4] proper prioritizing for the care of the multiple critically injured patient.