Retropleural thoracotomy

Minimally invasive retropleural approach for central thoracic disc herniation.

BACKGROUND The management of symptomatic thoracic disc herniation (TDH) has evolved tremendously ever since the first laminectomy was performed. The last decade has witnessed the evolution of minimally invasive approaches for TDH most of which have been posterior/posterolateral. Traditional anterior approaches involve a thoracotomy or more recently, thoracoscopic techniques. The authors describ...

Pain control after thoracotomy.

Lung injury after thoracotomy.

Postoperative respiratory complications are the commonest problem after all types of thoracic surgery. The exact incidence depends on the type of surgery and the preoperative health and lung function of the patient, but rates of up to 50% are often quoted. 2 Most of these complications are diagnosed as either `pneumonia' or `postoperative atelectasis'. However, the role of microbiological patho...

Post Thoracotomy Pain Syndrome

Post-thoracotomy pain is one of the most severe and long lasting complications after surgery (1-4) which acutely contributes to limit normal respiratory activity impairing the sputum clearance and reducing ventilatory function (5). Along with limb amputation, thoracotomy is the surgical procedure with the highest risk of severe and long lasting acute postoperative pain (6). Moreover, a chronic ...

Resuscitative Thoracotomy: An Update.

BACKGROUND Resuscitative thoracotomy is a heroic procedure that may offer the only survival hope for trauma patients in extremis. However, this operation has been the subject of much debate and its use, feasibility, outcomes, and cost are being continuously re-evaluated. METHODS This is a review of the most current (after 2000) literature on resuscitative thoracotomy, based on computer databa...