Results There were 26 cases in total (one excluded due to in hospital death); group 1=12 (2= bilateral procedures, 10=upper lobe procedures, median age 65), group 2=13 (all unilateral, all upper lobe procedures, median age 63). The median length of stay was 15 for both groups (p = 0.40). The median duration of air leak was 13 days for group 1 and 18 days for group 2 (p = 0.95). Only 2/12 (16%) ...

Respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) is the leading cause of neonatal respiratory distress in our country and is the commonest disorder requiring assisted ventilation all over the world(l,2), Exogenous surfactant administration is now an established mode of therapy in neonatal RDS (hyaline membrane disease, HMD). Ever since the first report of successful surfactant replacement therapy in neonate...

Tracheobronchomegaly (also called Mounier-Kuhn syndrome) is a rare disease characterized by flaccid and markedly dilated trachea and main bronchi on inspiration with narrowing or collapse on expiration or cough. It is associated with recurrent lower respiratory tract infection. A 75-year-old man with unexpected giant tracheomegaly had a significant peritubal air leak which impeded an operation....

A 68-year-old woman with interstitial lung disease related to dermatomyositis and systemic scleroderma was admitted to our hospital with fever and dyspnoea. Although the fever was reduced after antibiotic therapy, a left pneumothorax suddenly occurred on day 27 after admission. A continuous air leak persisted despite chest drainage with three tubes and repeated pleurodesis. Chest computed tomog...

BACKGROUND Intra-operative air leaks (IOAL) are common complications of pulmonary surgery. The post-operative management of air leaks requires a chest tube which may lead to longer hospitalization, further medical complications, and increased costs. Sealants have been shown to help control intra-operative air leaks and studies have demonstrated a reduction in chest tube duration and/or length o...

Background Pleural drainage is required after pulmonary lobectomy to evacuate air-leak and fluid. We compared the performance of the new Redax® Coaxial Drain (CD) (Redax, Mirandola, Italy) with a standard chest tube (CT) in terms of fluid and air-leak evacuation. Methods Fifty-two patients receiving a 24-F CD under water-seal after pulmonary lobectomy through open surgery or video-assisted th...

OBJECTIVES The decision to proceed to simple underwater seal drainage or to apply active suction to the underwater seal following pulmonary operation is a controversial one. For the sake of selecting the alternative to reduce postoperative air leakage, we performed a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to determine the benefit of suction or non-suction following lung surgery on...