1/84. Multivascular trauma on an adolescent. Perioperative management.Penetrating vascular injury, in particular at the neck, is a life-threatening trauma not only of the nature and the anatomic proximity of cardiovascular, aerodigestive, glandular and neurologic system but also of the development of early and late complications. The following case report describes our experience with a penetrating wound patient, who was admitted to our emergencies twelve hours after the accident. The only demonstrable objective signs included a large hematoma at the right-side of the neck and distended mediastinum on the chest X-ray. As the patient was cardiovascularly unstable he was immediately transported to the theater without any angiography. The mandatory operative exploration was initially unsuccessful and a median sternotomy with a standard cardiopulmonary bypass and deep hypothermia circulatory arrest was established to restore all the vascular lesions. Actually, the patient was in critical condition with a rupture of the right internal jugular vein, a large pseudoaneurysm of the innominate artery and an avulsion of the ascending aorta with the suspicion of a cardiac tamponade. The postoperative period lasted two full months, while complications appeared. The substantial message from this multivascular trauma is the early diagnosis of the life-threatening complications as exsanguinations, ventricular fibrillation and the ability to minimize postoperative complications, which will impair the normal functional life of the patient.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = chest (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/84. Traumatic cardiac herniation diagnosed by echocardiography and chest CT scanning: report of a case.A 62-year-old man who had suffered fractures of the left chest wall and hemothorax 1 year earlier was admitted to our hospital with multiple injuries as a result of a traffic accident. Chest drainage was immediately performed under the diagnosis of left hemothorax followed by immobilization of fractures of the femur and radius. On the second day after admission, he suddenly developed severe chest pain and dyspnea after sitting up in bed. echocardiography and chest computed tomography (CT) showed herniation of the left ventricle into the left thoracic cavity, whereby a diagnosis of cardiac herniation due to rupture of the pericardium was made and an emergency surgical repair was successfully performed. Only eight cases of patients surviving after traumatic cardiac herniation have been reported in japan; however, this is the first in which a preoperative diagnosis was made by echocardiography and chest CT scanning prior to surgical repair.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 8keywords = chest (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/84. Blunt trauma with flail chest and penetrating aortic injury.Blunt chest trauma with flail chest is common. The mortality attributes initially to the associated pulmonary contusion, massive hemothorax and later to the occurrence of adult respiratory distress syndrome. We report a case of flail chest with segmental fractures near the costovertebral junction and delayed hemothorax attacked 14 h later. The final diagnosis of the penetrating aortic injury by detached rib fragment was appreciated by aortogram. Unfortunately, active aortic hemorrhage made prompt thoracotomy in vain for life salvage.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 7keywords = chest (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/84. Incarcerated postraumatic intercostal lung hernia. Case report and review of the literature.Traumatic lung hernia is a rare diagnosis. A 52-year-old female motorvehicle passenger was admitted as a trauma patient after a motorvehicle accident. She was found to have an incarcerated lung hernia. Size of the hernia, incarceration and respiratory insufficiency mandated immediate surgical intervention with reposition, drainage and stabilisation of the chest wall. The postoperative course was uneventful. The management of the patient is discussed and the available literature reviewed.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = chest (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/84. Favorable outcome in a large left heart air embolism: lessons from an unusual complication of a noninvasive chest scan.OBJECTIVE: To report an unusual life-threatening complication of the performance of a computed tomographic (CT) scan of the chest. DESIGN: Case report. SETTING: University hospital. PATIENT: An intubated patient with blunt thoracic trauma. INTERVENTION: Performance of a CT scan of the chest at full inspiration. MAIN RESULT: With air insufflation, a large left ventricular air embolism occurred as a consequence of an airway breach, revealed by the simultaneous existence of a mild bilateral anterior pneumothorax. CONCLUSION: CT scan of the chest in patients at risk of airway breach (patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome, trauma patients) should first be performed at full expiration, not full inspiration.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 7keywords = chest (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/84. Murder and robbery by vehicular impact: true vehicular homicide.True vehicular homicides are defined as those occurrences in which a motor vehicle is intentionally used as a weapon in taking of a life. A case is presented in which the deceased was traveling in the front passenger seat of a motor car that was deliberately rammed by a heavy jeep that came in the opposite direction, resulting in a serious frontal collision. Immediately after the impact, while the occupants of the car were lying in a dazed condition, the two persons riding in the jeep escaped with a bag containing money that was in the car, leaving the jeep behind. The impact mainly involved the driver's sides of both vehicles. The driver of the car sustained serious injuries but was found to be alive, whereas the front-seat passenger, who did not show any serious external injuries, was found to be in a collapsed state and was pronounced dead on admission to the hospital within 30 minutes of the accident. The autopsy revealed that death was caused by closed hemopericardium from a ruptured right atrium. The evaluation of the external and internal injuries confirmed that the fatal injury and a few serious internal injuries were caused by the seat belt (tertiary-impact injuries). The ruptured right atrium was attributed to blunt abdominal trauma by impacting against the lap belt. The case was a true vehicular homicide in which a motor vehicle had been used as a weapon to kill a person. Various aspects pertaining to road accidents, the safety of the occupants, and the advantage and disadvantage of the safety devices are discussed.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 2.1065372538501keywords = behind (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/84. Late cardiac arrhythmias after blunt chest trauma.OBJECTIVE: case reports of two patients who developed fatal cardiac arrhythmias several days after blunt chest trauma. DESIGN: case reports. SETTING: Surgical intensive care unit of a university hospital. patients: A 23-year-old man and a 9-year-old girl with blunt chest trauma and multiple further injuries following car crashes were transferred to our institution. Although ECG on admission was normal, both patients developed fatal cardiac arrhythmias after 6 and 4 days, respectively. In both patients, post-mortem analysis confirmed myocardial contusion without coronary artery lesions. Histological findings included severe interstitial oedema, haemorrhages and infiltration of lymphocytes and neutrophils, fresh myocardial necrosis and fatty degeneration. CONCLUSION: Blunt chest trauma with myocardial contusion may lead to fatal cardiac arrhythmias even after several days, particularly when other severe injuries are present. Thus, a normal ECG on admission and absence of cardiac arrhythmias during the first 24 h of intensive care treatment do not necessarily exclude the occurrence of life-threatening arrhythmias in the further course.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 7keywords = chest (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/84. Evaluation of error in medicine: application of a public health model.A case of a chest tube placed on the wrong side during a trauma resuscitation in the emergency department is presented as an example of medical injury. Two traditional models, the legal model and the managerial model, are described and their application to medical injury discussed. A new public health model is then applied to the case example as a more effective way to address medical injury. The public health model addresses the injury event rather than the error itself using Haddon's matrix as a framework. Pre-event, event, and post-event phases are examined to find the weakest link, where intervention has the highest likelihood of successfully preventing future injuries.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = chest (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/84. Myocardial contusion presented as acute myocardial infarction after chest trauma.A 46-year-old male patient developed an acute myocardial infarction and congestive heart failure following blunt chest trauma. Electrocardiogram (ECG) revealed acute anterior myocardial infarction. echocardiography showed akinesis of interventricular septum, dyskinesis in apical anterior wall, and severe impairment of left ventricular overall systolic function. coronary angiography revealed normal coronary arteries. The patient followed a low-intensity physical medicine rehabilitation program. Follow-up was without new complications or deterioration of congestive heart failure. Five months later the patient presented with fulminant acute pulmonary edema and cardiogenic shock. cardiopulmonary resuscitation was unsuccessful.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 5keywords = chest (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/84. Periaortic contrast medium extravasation on chest CT in traumatic aortic injury: a sign for immediate thoracotomy.Traumatic aortic injury (TAI) after blunt chest trauma is potentially a lethal condition. The injury must be diagnosed promptly and accurately. Evaluation for traumatic aortic injury begins with an assessment of mechanism of injury, a physical examination and chest radiography. In recent years, chest computed tomography (CT) has been advocated as a better screening tool to detect TAI but there is still controversial over the confirmatory diagnostic value of CT. For hemodynamically unstable patients in whom chest CT had shown direct sign of aortic injury and with periaortic contrast medium extravasation, we advocate that these patients should be operated on immediately without aortogram to avoid unnecessary delay. Herein, we describe a case of TAI with direct signs and periaortic contrast extravasation and discuss if chest CT can substitute an aortogram as a diagnostic tool when direct signs of TAI are revealed.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 9keywords = chest (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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