BACKGROUND despite the increasingly careful attempts to reduce perioperative risks, pulmonary complications following surgery are still very common, leading to longer length of hospital stays or death. OBJECTIVE to describe the incidence of pulmonary complications and identify their association with duration of extracorporeal circulation (ECC), surgery and ischemia, number of bypass grafts pe...

This study concerns the pathological changes found in the lungs of 55 newborn infants with hyaline membrane disease (HMD). The accepted appearances are a widespread resorption of air with collapse of many alveolar ducts and most alveoli, producing a severe atelectasis. The alveolar ducts and alveoli that remain open are distended and lined by a variable amount of homogeneous acidophilic materia...

OBJECTIVE To demonstrate CT findings in patients with chronic aspiration compared with a control group without aspiration, as detected by the videofluoroscopic swallowing study (VFSS). METHODS This retrospective, observational study included patients with and without diagnoses of aspiration confirmed by VFSS, who underwent CT examination of the lungs between 2010 and 2014. Two radiologists bl...

CONTINUOUS E F F I C I E N T TRACHEOBRONchid toilet after thoracotomy is universally recognized as an important feature of patient care to promote rapid mcovery of respiratory stability and prevent complication. This is accomplished by unhesitating application of vigorous methods to stimulate f q u c n t cough and deep breathing. The contrast between the aggmsive attitude toward respiratory eco...

BACKGROUND Intraoperative high inspired oxygen fraction (FIO2) is thought to reduce the incidence of surgical site infection (SSI) and postoperative nausea and vomiting, and to promote postoperative atelectasis. METHODS The authors searched for randomized trials (till September 2012) comparing intraoperative high with normal FIO2 in adults undergoing surgery with general anesthesia and report...

A major cause of impaired gas exchange during general anaesthesia is atelectasis, causing pulmonary shunt. A 'vital capacity' (VC) manoeuvre (i.e. inflation of the lungs up to 40 cm H2O, maintained for 15 s) may re-expand atelectasis and improve oxygenation. However, such a manoeuvre may cause adverse cardiovascular effects. Reducing the time of maximal inflation may improve the margin of safet...