BACKGROUND Adult guidelines for the management of traumatic hemothorax are well established; however, there have been no similar studies conducted in the pediatric population. The purpose of our study was to assess the management and outcomes of children with traumatic hemothorax. MATERIALS AND METHODS Following Institutional Review Board approval, we conducted a retrospective cross-sectional...

hest injury is a common problem in patients sustaining blunt or penetrating trauma.1 Thoracic wounds account for 20-25% of all trauma deaths. Only 10-15% of all chest wounds require tube thoracostomy, whereas the remaining 85% can be managed with a closed tube thoracostomy.2 A major morbidity associated with this therapeutic device is empyema. The role of prophylactic antibiotics in reducing th...

BACKGROUND Oesophageal perforation is a condition associated with a high mortality. Its management is still controversial with operative treatment being favoured but a shift to conservative management is occurring. Very little exists in medical literature about its management in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the paucity of thoracic surgeons is compounded by limited diagnostic and therapeutic facili...

chest tube (ct) or tube thoracostomy placement is often indicated following traumatic injuries. premature movement of the chest tube leads to increased hospital complications and costs for patients. placement of a chest tube is indicated in drainage of blood, bile, pus, drain air, and other fluids. although there is a general agreement for the placement of a chest tube, there is little consensu...

Tube thoracostomy is a common therapeutic approach applied in medical practice. Certain complications of this procedure have been described in the literature. Oculosympathetic paresis, or Horner's syndrome, occurs from the interruption of second order preganglionic neurons and manifests as miosis, ptosis, hemifacial anhidrosis and enophthalmos. Iatrogenic Horner's syndrome, on the other hand, v...

Video assisted thoracic surgery in advanced stage postpneumonic empyema aims for thorough debridement and washout of the pleural space followed by an attempt to release the entrapped lung (decortication). When the latter isn’t successful, and the patient is in a poor performance status, applying tube thoracostomy is the usual routine, to avoid conversion to thoracotomy and open decortication. T...

BACKGROUND The use of prehospital chest tube thoracostomy (TT) remains controversial because of presumed increased complication risks. This study analyzed infectious complication rates for physician-performed prehospital and emergency department (ED) TT. METHODS Over a 40-month period, all consecutive trauma patients with TT performed by the flight physician at the accident scene were compare...