Comparison of peripheral blood saturation with brain oxygenation in patients undergoing thoracic surgery.

Introduction: Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a non-invasive method of regional tissue oxygenation measurement. Intraoperative use of NIRS to monitor brain oxygenation (BO) during surgery might be beneficial to identify cerebral desaturations. Aim: To compare peripheral blood saturation (SpO2) with BO measurements and evaluate the utility of BO in thoracic surgery. Material and methods: We took BO and SpO2 measurements in a group of 100 patients undergoing standard thoracic surgery. Measurements were made every 15 minutes. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare study groups. Spearman's rank correlation coefficient was used to determine correlation between studied parameters. Results: We found a negative correlation between patients' age and BO at the beginning of surgery. Operations lasted between 30 and 200 minutes. We found a positive correlation between BO and SpO2 between 15 and 90 minutes of surgery. Subsequently, BO remained at a low level while SpO2 returned to baseline values. Higher minimum SpO2 values were noted in patients undergoing left-sided procedures. Conclusions: Cerebral oxygenation does not return to baseline values until the end of the surgery as opposed to the SpO2. Furthermore, both SpO2 and BO correlate negatively with the overall duration of thoracic surgery. In addition, after 90 minutes of surgery, SpO2 stopped reflecting brain oxygenation.

Pneumopericardium as a non-small-cell lung carcinoma complication.

Below we present a case of a young man with symptoms of progressive weakness, fever, cough, rapid decrease in body weight and the presence of a tumor in the left axillary region. The chest radiography and echocardiography revealed gas bubbles in the pericardium. The more detailed diagnostics and computed tomography of the chest showed an infiltration of the left lung cavity and a fistula among the bronchus, pleural and pericardial cavities. Further diagnostics demonstrated that the pneumopericardium (diagnosed by means of chest radiograph and echocardiography) was a complication of a primary non-small-cell lung carcinoma.

Veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in a patient with severe acute respiratory failure - case report.

Acute respiratory failure resistant to conventional pulmonary therapy often requires intensive medical care. In rare cases, ventilator therapy proves insufficient, and only the option of employing veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO V-V) remains. The present article describes the case of a 23-year-old patient who experienced severe acute respiratory distress syndrome with associated multiple organ failure. The patient was admitted to the pulmonary ward of the Alfred Sokolowski Regional Pulmonary Hospital in Szczecin-Zdunowo with suspected pneumonia of unknown etiology. After the initial 5 days of diagnostics at the pulmonary ward, the patient required a further 97 days of hospital treatment and spent 63 days at the Intensive Care Unit. There, he underwent ECMO V-V therapy lasting 22 days, which resulted in the improvement of his arterial blood gas parameters and clinical condition.

[Primary pulmonary mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma: a case report]. / Chloniak typu MALT o lokalizacji plucnej - opis przypadku.

Primary pulmonary lymphoma accounts only 0,5% of all primary lung neoplasms. Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is a low grade B-cell extranodal lymphoma. It is a quite infrequent entity, however it constitutes from 72% to 90% of all pulmonary lung lymphomas. Long-term stimulation of bronchus-associated lymphoid tissue by antigens, smoking, inflammatory disorders or autoimmune diseases are thought to be leading to the development of MALT lymphoma. We present the case of primary pulmonary mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue lymphoma. A 76-year-old man with a history of heavy smoking (22.5 pack years) was admitted to the hospital for a further diagnostics of an abnormal finding in the right lung visualized on the chest X-ray. The diagnostic process, including imagining studies did not reveal the etiology of a lesion in the right lung. The patient was qualified for surgical diagnostics. The histological finding confirmed extranodal marginal low-grade B-cell lymphoma of mucosa -associated lymphoid tissue.

Single lung transplantation in a patient with retrospective positive cross-match.

Lung transplantation is a method useful in such non-malignant end-stage parenchymal and vascular diseases as: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), idiopathic interstitial pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis, or primary pulmonary hypertension. The main aim of this procedure is to extend the patient's lifespan and quality of life. However, the availability of the operation is limited by organ access. In this paper we present the case of a 58-year-old female in the fourth stage of COPD, who was classified to have a single lung transplantation. Because of some technical problems it was decided to transplant a left donor lung in the right recipient lung locus. Positive cross match was demonstrated retrospectively, and we applied five courses of plasmapheresis. Human immunoglobulin and rituximab treatment were performed to decrease the impact of lymphocytotoxic antibodies. The patient survived 498 days after transplantation, 271 in the hospital.

[AN ANALYSIS OF THE CAUSES OF REFUSAL OF ADMISSION TO PATIENTS WITH SEVERE INJURIES AND AMPUTATIONS OF THE HAND REFERRED TO THE REPLANTATION SERVICE]. / ANALIZA PRZYCZYN ODMÓW PRZYJECIA PACJENTÓW Z ROZLEGLYMI RANAMI I AMPUTACJAMI RAK, ZGLASZANYCH DO SERWISU REPLANTACYJNEGO.

INTRODUCTION: Total or partial upper limb amputation significantly reduces ability of normal functioning in the society. Development of microsurgical skills enabled to replantation of the amputated limb (or part) and to regain its partial or sometimes full function. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study analyses the causes of refusal of admission to 55 of 141 patients referred to the replantation service of the Department of General and Hand Surgery PUM, over the period 2012-2013. RESULTS: The causes of denied admission included: injury without compromise of blood supply to the limb (35%), distal amputations (27%), crush injuries (11%), single finger amputation (9%), severe damage of the amputated part (9%) and lower limb amputations (5%). The age of the patient had no significant influence on the decision to refuse admission. The distance between the referring hospital and the replantation centre was statistically significantly shorter in accepted cases (252 km vs 496 km, p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our outcomes show a variety of causes of refusal. of admission to patients with severe trauma and amputation of the hand. The main factors influencing decision making regarding admission or denial were associated with the actual danger to the survival of the involved limb, and estimation/calculation of the chance for limb saving.