Rationale: Rib fractures are common among patients with blunt chest wall trauma and often represent life-altering injuries. Patient concerns: A 31-year-old woman presented with right chest trauma, with pain and bleeding as a result of a traffic accident 1 hour previously. Diagnoses: Chest computed tomography showed open chest trauma, multiple rib fractures, flail chest, hemopneumothorax, and lung contusion on the right side. Interventions: We decided to perform debridement via emergency, thoracoscopic exploration to remove blood and contaminants from the chest cavity. Thereafter, the third to seventh fractured ribs were fixed and reconstructed using the matrix rib internal fixation system, followed by suturing of the incision according to the original anatomical level. Outcomes: The patient was discharged 15 days after surgery, and recovered well with satisfactory results. Lessons: We believe that initial chest reconstruction with internal fixation in the first stage following thorough debridement may be suitable for treating flail chest, and could save the patient's life in the early stages. However, the decision to perform the first-stage operation for the open contaminated wound should be carefully considered.

Background The aim of the present study was to explore the therapeutic effect and prognosis in patients with rib fractures and atelectasis after thoracic trauma in order to provide a basis for clinical decision-making in primary hospitals. Methods A retrospective study was conducted on 86 patients admitted to our hospital between January 2016 and May 2020 with rib fractures and atelectasis after thoracic trauma. On the basis of the chest computed tomography scans taken at the time of discharge, the patients were divided into two groups: the reexpansion group and the non-reexpansion group. The two groups were compared with respect to the changes observed in the patients’ levels of blood oxygen saturation (SpO2) and pulmonary function, the presence of secondary pulmonary or thoracic infection, the time of chest tube drainage, the length of hospitalization, the cost of hospitalization, and the patients’ level of satisfaction with their quality of life 3 months after discharge. Results In the reexpansion group, there were significant differences in the levels of SpO2 and pulmonary function measured before and after pulmonary reexpansion (P < 0.05). Compared with the non-reexpansion group, the patients in the reexpansion group had a lower incidence of secondary pulmonary and thoracic infection and a higher level of satisfaction with their quality of life after discharge; these differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). There was no statistical significance between the two groups with respect to the time of chest tube drainage or the length of hospitalization (P > 0.05). However, the cost of hospitalization was significantly higher in the reexpansion group than in the non-reexpansion group (P < 0.05). Conclusions The patients in the pulmonary reexpansion group had a lower incidence of complications and a better prognosis than the patients in the non-reexpansion group.

To investigate the risk factors of complications in lung cancer patients after CT image-guided percutaneous lung biopsy (PTNB), in this study, 110 patients admitted to Xixi Hospital from January 30, 2017 to June 30, 2019 were selected for PTNB, and the basic characteristic information, lesion diameter, number of needle penetration, depth of needle penetration, physiological results of biopsy, postoperative concurrent symptoms, and success rate of biopsy were recorded. In addition, multivariate Logistic regression model (MLRM) was adopted to explore the correlation between various correlated characters and concurrent symptoms. The results showed that the biopsy pathological results were 53 cases of adenocarcinoma, 31 patients with squamous cell carcinoma, 8 patients with thymic carcinoma, 7 patients with small cell carcinoma and 11 patients with lymph carcinoma, and the success rate of needle biopsy was 100% by comparison with the final diagnosis. Among them, 35 patients developed pneumothorax symptoms postoperatively with a complication rate of 31.82%, 22 patients developed hemoptysis postoperatively with a complication rate of 20%, and 6 patients developed infection with a complication rate of 5.45%. The results of regression analysis showed that pneumothorax and hemoptysis were positively correlated with the number of de needles (P < 0.05), and negatively correlated with lesion diameter (P < 0.05). In addition, pneumothorax was also significantly positively correlated with age (P < 0.05), and infection was significantly positively correlated with the number of puncture needles (P < 0.05). Therefore, the main complications after PTNB are pneumothorax and hemoptysis, the high risk factors associated with pneumothorax include lesion diameter, number of puncture needles and age, the high risk factors associated with hemoptysis include lesion diameter and number of puncture needles, and the risk factors associated with infection are number of puncture needles.

ObjectiveBreast cancer metastasis to the lung is common. The resection of lung metastases in patients with breast cancer has been controversial. Here, we present a very rare case of pulmonary and mediastinal lymph node metastases in a patient with breast cancer who had a disease-free interval (DFI) of more than 33 years.MethodsAn involved lobectomy and systematic mediastinal lymph node dissection were performed.ResultsThe histological examination confirmed pulmonary metastasis from the breast cancer associated with mediastinal lymph nodes metastasis.ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first case reported of a patient with a 33-year DFI after a radical mastectomy for breast cancer who presented with pulmonary metastasis with mediastinal lymph node involvement. This case indicates that a long-term follow-up of breast cancer patients is necessary. Systematic mediastinal lymph node dissection should be considered as a prognostic study during pulmonary metastasectomy for breast cancer.