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Background Damage Control (DC) has improved survival from severe abdominal and extremities injuries. The data on the surgical strategies and outcomes in patients managed with DC for severe thoracic injuries is scarce. Methods Retrospective review of the patients treated with DC for thoracic/pulmonary complex trauma at two level I trauma centers from 2006 to 2010. Subjects 14 and older, were included. Demographics, trauma characteristics, surgical techniques, and resuscitation strategies were reviewed. Results A total of 840 trauma thoracotomies were performed. Damage control thoracotomy (DCT) was done in 31 (3.7%). Pulmonary trauma was found in 25 of them. The median age was 28 (IQR 20–34) years, Revised Trauma Score was 7.11, (IQR 5.44–7.55), and Injury Severity Score was 26 (IQR 25–41). Nineteen patients had gunshot-wounds, four stab-wounds and two blunt trauma. Pulmonary trauma was managed by pneumorrhaphy in three cases, tractotomy in 12, wedge resection in one and packing as primary treatment in 8. Clamping of the pulmonary hilum was used as a last resource in 7 cases. Five patients returned to the ICU with the pulmonary hilum occluded by a vascular clamp or an en masse ligature. These patients underwent a deferred resection within 16 to 90 hours after the initial DCT. Four of them survived. Bleeding from other intra-thoracic sources was found in 20 cases: major vessels in nine, heart in three, and thoracic wall in nine. DCT mortality in pulmonary trauma was 6/25, (24%) due to coagulopathy or persistent bleeding in five cases and to multiorgan failure in one. Conclusion This series describes our experience with DCT in severe lung trauma. We describe pulmonary hilum clamping and deferred lung resection as a viable surgical alternative for major pulmonary injuries, and the use of packing as a definitive method for hemorrhage control.