OBJECTIVE To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of antibiotics in reducing the infectious complications following closed tube thoracostomy for isolated chest trauma. DESIGN Double-blind, randomized clinical trial. SETTING Medical school affiliated large urban teaching hospital and trauma center. PATIENTS One hundred nineteen of 159 patients over 18 years old presenting to the emergency...

BACKGROUND Since rising medical costs currently represent a growing problem worldwide, finding cost-effective treatment options is important. In our hospital, outpatient treatment of pneumothorax using a thoracic vent began in December 2012. OBJECTIVES We aimed to test our hypothesis that outpatient treatment of pneumothorax with a thoracic vent can reduce medical expenses. METHODS Patients...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of ice for the control of pain associated with chest tube irritation. The randomized and single-blinded study consisted of 40 patients (20 in the control and 20 in the study group) who underwent thoracotomy with chest tube placement. The same general anesthesia protocol was used for all patients, and the procedure was performed ...

OBJECTIVE to describe and evaluate the acceptance of a low-cost chest tube insertion porcine model in a medical education project in the southwest of Paraná, Brazil. METHODS we developed a low-cost and low technology porcine model for teaching chest tube insertion and used it in a teaching project. Medical trainees - students and residents - received theoretical instructions about the procedu...

Background An increasing obese population in the United States focuses attention on perioperative management of obese and overweight patients. Objective We sought to determine if obesity, determined by body mass index (BMI), was a preoperative indicator of bleeding in coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery as measured by intraoperative packed red blood cell transfusion frequency and 24-hou...