OBJECTIVE To determine the insertional and positional complications encountered by the placement of intercostal chest drains (ICDs) for trauma and whether further training is warranted in operators inserting intercostal chest drains outside level 1 trauma unit settings. METHODS Over a period of 3 months, all patients with or without an ICD in situ in the front room trauma bay of Tygerberg Hos...

We report a case of trauma patient, whose heart rhythm and rate changed from sinus tachycardia to rapid atrial fibrillation. The change occurred immediately after the insertion of left thoracostomy tube. The patient did not respond to pharmacological treatment. Only when the tube was pulled out, the rhythm returned to sinus. Chest radiogram shows the position of the tube, in close proximity to ...

CMAJ © 2010 Canadian Medical Association or its licensors 1 A54-year-old man with a history of cirrhosis following liver transplantation presented with shortness of breath and was found to have a right-sided pleural effusion secondary to pulmonary infection. A pigtail drainage tube was inserted guided by computed tomography. The procedure was complicated by the development of a massive hemopneu...

BACKGROUND Adult guidelines for the management of traumatic hemothorax are well established; however, there have been no similar studies conducted in the pediatric population. The purpose of our study was to assess the management and outcomes of children with traumatic hemothorax. MATERIALS AND METHODS Following Institutional Review Board approval, we conducted a retrospective cross-sectional...

adjusted antibiotic treatment, when possible, and surgical drainage are crucial. Drainage is required to evacuate the accumulated pus and to sterilize and close the pleural cavity, thus allowing good pulmonary mobility. Different procedures may be employed, such as closed drainage systems by tube thoracostomy, or partial costectomy, or open systems, such as open thoracostomy with the creation o...

In this paper, we describe our experience in the treatment of childhood empyema using urokinase. Patients' ages ranged from 2 to 12 years. Urokinase (dosage: 3,100 IU/kg/day) was diluted in normal saline to produce 1000 IU/ml (maximum dosage 100,000 IU in 100 ml of normal saline). After 2 hours, the clamped catheters were released and connected to water-seal suction at a negative pressure of 10...

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TBC) is one of the most common forms of pleurisy, pleural effusion and extra pulmonary TBC. Tube thoracostomy is the primary treatment method in massive TBC pleurisy. On the other hand, video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery (VATS) has come to the fore in the diagnosis and treatment of undiagnosed patients. In this study, our aim is to share the results of surgeries in...

BACKGROUND Thoracic trauma is commonly treated with tube thoracostomy. The overall complication rate associated with this procedure is up to 30% among all operators. The primary purpose of this study was to define the incidence and risk factors for complications in chest tubes placed exclusively by resident physicians. The secondary objective was to outline the rate of complications occult to p...