Summary: Background: Patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) usually have permanent and often devastating neurologic deficits and disability and pain (1). According to the National Institutes of Health, "among neurological disorders, the cost to society of automotive SCI is exceeded only by the cost of mental retardation"(2). Neurogenic pain constitutes one of the enigmatic clinical sy...

PURPOSE OF REVIEW To consider optimal analgesic strategies for thoracic surgical patients. RECENT FINDINGS Recent studies have consistently suggested analgesic equivalence between paravertebral and thoracic epidural analgesia. Complications appear to be significantly less common with paravertebral analgesia. SUMMARY There is good evidence that paravertebral block can provide acceptable pain...

Acute injury to the thoracic aorta is a life-threatening and can lead to various types of aortic injury including the formation of false aneurysm or pseudoaneurysm. We report two cases of acute traumatic aortic injury after motor vehicle accidents. One case had a saccular pseudoaneurysm and another case had complex aortic injury with pseudoaneurysms. We review the chest radiograph and CT scan f...

Injuries to the thoracic duct are infrequent but may become life-threatening when chylous leakage persists. This report describes 6 patients with such injuries in whom the leakage resolved spontaneously in one, was corrected using microsurgical lymphatic repair or lymphatic-venous anastomosis in two, successfully treated either by ligation of the thoracic duct or insertion of a peritoneovenous ...

Fracture-dislocations of the thoracic spine comprise about 16% of all thoracic and lumbar fractures, and are commonly caused by high-speed road accidents. Unlike the cervical spine, the thoracic spine is stabilized by its connection to the rib cage by transverse costal ligaments. The position of the articular facets provides resistance to axial rotation and horizontal translation. Therefore, a ...

Background Lung injury is a common complication following major trauma. Large volume transfusions, thoracic injury, pulmonary contusion, and hypo perfusion have previously been associated with its development [1]. However, early predictors of differing grades of lung injury following trauma are yet to be described. The objective of this study was to characterise the admission risk factors assoc...

introduction spinal cord injury without radiological abnormality (sciwora) is a rare entity and usually involves the cervical spine. thoracic spine involvement is very rare due to the stability provided by the rib cage. the mechanisms of injury and pathophysiology are still debatable. case presentation we present a case of an adult male who had road traffic accident and presented with paraplegi...

Under a blast or impact load, rapid movement of the thoracic wall generates stress in lung, a foam-like structure of high compressibility, which is different from general solids. Due to this unique characteristic, it is hypothesized that when lung is subjected to a blast or impact load, there will be an initial low stress progressively developed into a high stress in a short duration in a thin ...

Cardiac surgery is increasingly performed on elderly patients with extensive coronary artery abnormalities who have impaired left ventricular function, decreased physiologic reserve, and multiple comorbid conditions. Considerable numbers of these patients develop perioperative neurologic complications ranging from subtle cognitive dysfunction to more evident postoperative confusion, delirium, a...