No abstract

No abstract

Objectives: Pneumothorax is an important complication of blunt chest trauma. The aim of this study was to report our experience in treatment strategy and outcomes of traumatic pneumothorax. Methods: A total of 78 patients who developed pneumothorax due to isolated blunt chest trauma were evaluated in terms of age, gender, size of pneumothorax, treatment methods, complications and length of hospital stay. The size of pneumothorax was calculated with computer-aided volumetry. Results: Tube thoracostomy was performed for 48 patients while observation was undertaken for 30 cases. Chest tubes were inserted in 6 patients after 24 hours following the traumatic event. A total of 8 patients who developed prolonged air leakage and hemothorax as complications underwent video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. None of the patients developed any mortality or morbidity. Conclusions: Traumatic pneumothorax demands prompt diagnosis and treatment. Monitoring all patients even with small sizes of traumatic pneumothorax for at least 24 hours onset of their initial assessment and applying chest tubes for cases who have pneumothorax larger than 50% at first examination should be an appropriate modality for treatment. Moreover, the minimally invasive approach of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery benefits to overcome the complications of thoracic trauma.

Based on the findings of our analysis, patients with a DFI <12 months and >1 metastases resected during initial surgery have a higher risk of recurrence. We recommend postoperative follow-up at frequent intervals and reconsideration of oncological treatment after complete resection.

Background: This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission computed tomography (PET/CT) in identifying the pleural invasion of metastatic breast cancers.Methods: A retrospective study was conducted to include 75 patients with untreated breast cancer who had undergone thoracoscopy to drain pleural effusions and to perform pleural biopsies. Whole group of patients were evaluated in terms of age, type of primary breast cancer, macroscopic appearance of pleura during thoracoscopy, maximum standardized FDG uptake value (SUV) reported by PET/CT scan in addition to presence of malignancy detected in pleura and/or pleural effusion.Results: All of 75 patients were female and mean age was 56.12±11.70. Metastatic disease was diagnosed in the pleura of 40 (53.3%) and in the pleural effusion of 43 (57.3%) patients. The sensitivity and specificity of PET/CT in detecting pleural metastases of breast carcinoma was calculated as 88.2% and 96.2% whereas PET/CT demonstrated sensitivity of 91.9% and specificity of 91.3% in identifying malignant pleural effusion. Cut-off values of FDG uptake were 4.25 for pleural metastases and 3.85 for malignant pleural effusions. PET/CT also indicated a false negative rate of 12.5%, a false positive rate of 16.28% and an overall accuracy rate of 85.33% in the diagnosis of pleural metastasis of breast carcinoma.Conclusions: PET/CT reporting an FDG uptake over 4 in the pleura or pleural effusion is beneficial in managing the patients with the suspicion of pleural metastases from breast cancer.