Management of pneumothorax. Consider ATLS guidelines.

Practice management guidelines for management of hemothorax and occult pneumothorax.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM Thoracic trauma is a notable cause of morbidity and mortality in American trauma centers, where 25% of traumatic deaths are related to injuries sustained within the thoracic cage.1 Chest injuries occur in 60% of polytrauma cases; therefore, a rough estimate of the occurrence of hemothorax related to trauma in the United States approaches 300,000 cases per year.2 The man...

BTS guidelines for the management of spontaneous pneumothorax.

Management of spontaneous pneumothorax.

Management of patients with a spontaneous pneumothorax continues to challenge clinicians. Recent guidelines help provide care pathways for these patients and highlight the many areas in need of additional study. Management options for spontaneous pneumothoraces should be selected based primarily upon a patient's clinical status. Observation or pleural air drainage, in selected patients, plays a...

Management of spontaneous pneumothorax.

Spontaneous pneumothorax occurring In the apparently healthy individual was first named and described by Itard’ in 1803. In 1826 Laennec2 accurately described the occurrence of such a phenomenum, and following McDowell3 in 1856, who described the condition In a tuberculous patient, the etiology was accepted as tuberculous in the majority of cases until Kjaergaard4 (1932 and 1933) revealed that ...

The ATLS course, a survey of 228 ATLS providers.

Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) courses teach a system for the initial assessment and management of trauma patients that aims to optimise initial care and reduce mortality and morbidity, and have been adopted worldwide. This questionnaire survey characterised those who took up this particular educational resource in Scotland during a four year period after its introduction, and analysed how...