A 75-year-old female non-smoker was admitted for investigation of suspected interstitial lung disease. A left lower lobe transbronchial lung biopsy was performed, complicated by suspected bilateral pneumothoraces, pneumomediastinum and surgical emphysema (fig 1). Bilateral intercostal catheters (ICCs) were inserted. In view of the ongoing air leak and worsening surgical emphysema, a CT chest wa...

1. Druey KM, Greipp PR. Narrative review: The systemic capillary leak syndrome. Ann Intern Med. 2010;153:90--8. 2. Kapoor P, Greipp PT, Schaefer EW, Mandrekar SJ, Kamal AH, Gonzalez-Paz NC, et al. Idiopathic systemic capillary leak syndrome (Clarkson’s Disease): The Mayo Clinic Experience. Mayo Clin Proc. 2010;85:905--12. 3. Gousseff M, Arnaud L, Lambert M, Hot A, Hamidou M, Duhaut P, et al. Th...

background: aluminum phosphide is the common cause of poisoning in adults in india, with a very high case fatality ratio. we studied five patients of aluminum phosphide poisoning with polyserositis. methods: we enrolled all patients with aluminum phosphide poisoning presenting to emergency medical department, at a tertiary care hospital in northwestern india from january to july 2006. these pat...

70 the Editor:-A patient was anesthetized for an orthopedic procedure and a no. 4 laryngeal mask aiway (LMA) was inserted. An air leak around the LMA was observed at approximately 12 cm H,O pressure, causing ventilation to be inadequate. I attempted to alleviate the air leak by repositioning the LMA, changing the cuff inflation volume, and repositioning the patient's head, with no success. Acco...

The development of a persistent air-leak due to secondary pneumothorax in patients with COPD is a difficult problem. Treatment options can include surgery, pleurodesis, and various endoscopic techniques. The use of one-way valves has been reported in patients with broncho-pleural and alveolo-pleural fistulae arising after surgical resection as well as after secondary pneumothorax. Isolating the...

Prolonged air leak is one of the most common post-operative complications encountered after thoracic surgical operations involving mobilization or resection of lung parenchyma. Air leak typically manifests as persistent bubbling in a chest tube drainage system, but may also present with increasing subcutaneous emphysema or pneumothorax in a post-operative patient. No universal consensus exist a...

A retrospective analysis of 632 infants with hyaline membrane disease admitted to this regional intensive care nursery between 1 July 1974 and 31 December 1982 showed that 387 (61%) received mechanical ventilation. The ventilator pressures at the time the first air leak was detected were available from the records of 120 of 154 (78%) of the infants who sustained pulmonary air leak. There was a ...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect of creating an air-tight anastomosis and intraoperative dilatation of the hepaticojejunostomy (HJ) in reducing the early and long-term complications. STUDY DESIGN Interventional study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Department of Surgery, King Saud University, Riyadh, between March 2008 and January 2016. METHODOLOGY After completion of HJ, the anastomosis was...

INTRODUCTION Persistent air leak is frustrating for both patients and physicians, above all leaks with a high risk of surgery. Insertion of endobronchial valves could be an alternative to surgery. The aim of this study is to describe our experience in these valves and analyse their efficacy in a series of patients with persistent air leaks. MATERIAL AND METHODS The valves are inserted by mean...