A patient undergoing laparoscopic radical prostatectomy developed unilateral periorbital edema and cervical subcutaneous emphysema following carbon dioxide insufflation into the retropubic and retroperitoneal space. He had hypercarbia and acidosis during and after the end of the case and he required hyperventilation in the recovery room for two hours before the hypercarbia subsided and the arte...

A 41-year-old primiparous low-risk woman developed dyspnea and generalized head and neck swelling after a normal delivery of a healthy neonate. A chest x-ray demonstrated surgical emphysema in the neck and a suggestion of pneumomediastinum (arrows, Figure panel A). A computed tomography examination with oral contrast demonstrated surgical emphysema and air in the anterior, middle, and posterior...

Surgical procedures for treating emphysema were first developed nearly 100 years ago. Despite a wide range of surgical procedures performed over the years, only three appear to have true clinical benefit: bullectomy, lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS), and lung transplantation. Lung volume reduction surgery has been reintroduced in the past decade and is currently under active research. A rec...

INTRODUCTION Pulmonary interstitial emphysema is a life-threatening form of ventilator-induced lung injury. We present one of the few reported adult cases of pulmonary interstitial emphysema in a woman with respiratory failure admitted to our intensive care unit. CASE PRESENTATION An 87-year-old Caucasian woman with a diagnosis of community-acquired pneumonia was admitted to our intensive car...

We experienced a case of a subcutaneous emphysema after tonsillectomy. The patient, a 24-year-old man, complained of a recurrent sore throat and was diagnosed as having chronic tonsillitis. Pre-operative general examinations revealed no abnormalities. The operation was carried out under general anesthesia. The adhesions between the tonsils and the surrounding tissues were moderate. The bi-later...

Resectional lung volume reduction has proven to be superior to medical treatment in reducing dyspnoea and in increasing lung function, survival and quality of life in a very well selected, low risk group of hyperinflated patients with heterogeneous emphysema predominantly in the upper lobe. Nevertheless, this intervention is hampered by an important pulmonary (30%) and cardiovascular (20%) morb...

There are limited therapies for severe emphysema. Bronchoscopic treatments of emphysema were introduced to achieve the beneficial physiological changes seen in surgical lung volume reduction; however, at the present time these treatments are mostly aimed at improving quality of life and functional status in patients with emphysema. At this time, none of these minimally invasive approaches have ...

Surgical emphysema is well known and many case reports have been published on this. Many authors have reported this as a complication post dentoalveolar treatment. Diffusion of air into facial planes and periorbital area during endodontic procedures has been rarely reported. The use of three way air syringe and forceful irrigation of root canal can lead to surgical emphysema of subcutaneous tis...

RATIONALE In severe pulmonary emphysema, lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS) improves pulmonary function over a 2-yr period in selected patients. However, the changes in lung function and maximal flow (Vmax) occurring immediately postoperatively are not clear and may contribute to the high morbidity observed. In the present study, we used a chronic canine model of upper lobe emphysema to addre...

Pneumomediastinum, and subcutaneous emphysema usually result from spontaneous alveolar wall rupture and, far less commonly, from disruption of the upper airways or gastrointestinal tract. Subcutaneous neck emphysema, pneumomediastinum, and retropneumoperitoneum caused by nontraumatic perforations of the colon have been infrequently reported. The main symptoms of spontaneous subcutaneous emphyse...