Mechanical ventilation with an endotracheal tube is frequently used in the ICU setting (including paediatric ICUs, or PICUs). Although complications seldom occur, they can be life-threatening. We report on the case of a 10-year-old boy who developed pneumomediastinum and extensive subcutaneous emphysema due to severe tube obstruction caused by kinking of the endotracheal tube. The kinking proba...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate and compare outcomes and complications in patients having undergone gastrostomy by surgical (SG), percutaneous endoscopic (PEG), or percutaneous radiological (PRG) procedure. DESIGN Retrospective analysis. SETTING University-based tertiary care center. PATIENTS Of 82 patients who met inclusion criteria, 14 patients (median age, 40 years) received a surgical tube pla...

A feeding jejunostomy tube placement is required for entral feeding in a variety of clinical scenarios. It offers an advantage over gastrostomies by eliminating the risk of aspiration. Standard described laparoscopic methods require special instrumentation and expensive custom-made tubes. We describe a simple cost-effective method of feeding jejunostomy using regular laparoscopic instruments an...

A 73-year-old man was brought to the emergency department (ED) after his caregiver noticed his percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube was missing. It had been placed because of poor oral intake related to dementia. The caregiver stated that she last flushed the tube the day before and that the patient had been eating and drinking without difficulty. The patient was alert but disoriented...

Placement of a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube is a common procedure to allow for enteral nutrition in patients with multiple indications. PEG tube placement is a safe procedure with minor complications such as site infection and irritation. One of the more severe complications is splenic laceration, which may result in intra-peritoneal bleeding and manifest as an acute abdomen. ...

BACKGROUND Complications associated with long-term tracheotomy are obstruction of the distal end of the tube by granulation tissue and tracheomalacia. These complications have traditionally been surgically treated. METHODS Prospective study in a chronic ventilator-dependent division, including 234 consecutive patients with tracheotomy and mechanical ventilation. Endoscopic evaluation was perf...

The benefits of enteral feeding in critically ill animals have been clearly established and include preservation of the mucosal integrity of the gut, reduction in rates of sepsis and augmentation of the host immune defense mechanisms. A multitude of tube types and techniques for tube insertion have been reported but fundamentally speaking, the decision for the type of enteral feeding required c...

A 65-year-old male was operated for esophageal carcinoma. Transhiatal esophagogastrectomy with jejunostomy feeding tube was done. Orals were started on the 12th postoperative day. The jejunostomy feeding tube was removed on the 20th postoperative day. Immediately after removal of the feeding tube, a 10-12 cm ascaris was seen emerging through the jejunostomy tract. Ascaris lumbricoides can cause...

context maternal serum human chorionic gonadotropin (hcg) and alpha fetal protein (afp) were originally introduced to detect trisomy 21 and neural tube defects. however, in the absence of aneuploidy or neural tube defects, mid-trimester maternal serum hcg and/or maternal serum afp associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes. pregnancies with unexplained mid-trimester elevation in maternal serum ...

BACKGROUND/AIM Otitis media with effusion (OME) is characterized by the prolonged presence of fluid (longer than 12 weeks) of different viscosity in the middle ear, without perforation of the eardrum or signs of acute inflammation. The conservative treatment does not always provide satisfactory recovery, so surgical treatment may be unavoidable. The aim of the study was to determine the inciden...