BACKGROUND Patients with solid tumors frequently undergo surgical procedures and develop procedure-related infections. We sought to describe the current microbiologic spectrum of infections at various sites following common surgical procedures. METHODS This was a retrospective review of microbiologic data between January 2011 and February 2012. The sites studied were those associated with bre...

insufficient control of post-thoracotomy pain can produce breathing dysfunction and long term staying in neonatal intensive care unit (nicu). it can increase the incidence of pulmonary complications such as atelectasis, pneumonia and respiratory failure. the aim of this study was to determine the analgesic effect of continuous extrapleural nerve block, using ropivacaine, in neonates younger tha...

An 18 year old Chinese woman presented in March 1986 with a one month history of increasing wheeze and dyspnoea during exertion. She had been treated elsewhere for pulmonary tuberculosis since November 1985 but admitted poor compliance with treatment. Physical examination showed a very apprehensive woman with inspiratory stridor and cyanosis. A chest radiograph showed mild disease of the right ...

This randomised study was designed to compare clinical outcomes for simple aspiration versus tube thoracostomy, in the treatment of the first primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) attack. A randomised trial, comparing simple aspiration with tube thoracostomy, in 137 patients with a first episode of PSP was carried out. Immediate success was obtained in 40 out of the 65 patients (62%) randomly ...

OBJECTIVE Tube thoracostomy (TT) is a commonly performed intensive care procedure. Simulator training may be a good alternative method for TT training, compared with conventional methods such as apprenticeship and animal skills laboratory. However, there is insufficient evidence supporting use of a simulator. The aim of this study is to determine whether training with medical simulator is assoc...

AIMS To study the clinical and microbial profile of childhood empyema in South Asia and to identify the changes over the past three decades. METHODS A total of 265 children (aged 1 month to 12 years) with empyema admitted to the Advanced Pediatric Center, PGIMER, Chandigarh, India in 1989-98, were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS One third of children were under 5. Culture ...

introduction: video-assisted thoracic surgery (vats) is now commonly used for primary spontaneous pneumothorax. in the present study we compared the outcomes of this technique with those obtained by conventional thoracotomy.material and methods: in this cross-sectional stud, forty patients were enrolled into two groups: vats (n=20) and thoracotomy (n=20). in both groups the blebs were resected ...

Chest tubes are utilized to evacuate shed blood after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation, however, they can become clogged, leading to retained blood. We implemented a protocol for active tube clearance (ATC) of chest tubes to determine if this might reduce interventions for retained blood. A total of 252 patients underwent LVAD implantation. Seventy-seven patients had conventio...