BACKGROUND: The management of food impaction and foreign body ingestion in the upper gastrointestinal tract requires careful evaluation and timely intervention. This study was a retrospective evaluation of the management of adult patients with such a history. METHODS: This study included adult patients admitted to a tertiary medical center with foreign body ingestion or food impaction between January 2012 and January 2018. The demographic and clinical data were recorded pro forma for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Of the 122 patients included in this study, 53.2% were male, and the mean age was 46.68±18.64 years. In 84 of the patients (68.8%), the ingested object was food. Thirty patients were managed solely through laryngoscopy, while 61 patients (50%) underwent a flexible endoscopy. The patients with a foreign body ingestion were older than those with a food impaction (mean age: 51.3±17.4 vs. 36.5±17.4 years; p<0.001) and a plain radiograph showed the ingested material more often in those patients (36.8% vs 10.7%; p<0.001). Two patients underwent surgery due to perforations caused by the impacted material. No mortality was observed. CONCLUSION: The management of a foreign body ingestion or food impaction in an emergency setting requires a stepwise, algorithmic approach.

Diaphragmatic plication via video-assisted mini-thoracotomy is an effective and curative surgical procedure which can be performed successfully with low morbidity rates. As it combines the rapidity and economical benefits of open thoracotomy with the advantages of video thoracoscopic procedures such as fast recovery and short postoperative hospital stay, it can be preferred as a safe and effective alternative hybrid method compared to standard open or closed techniques, for symptomatic patients with non-functional hemidiaphragm.

Pneumomediastinum is defined as the presence of air in mediastinum. Pneumomediastinum can sometimes occur after surgery. Pneumomediastinum seen after dental procedures is rare. We presented the case of subcutaneous emphysema developed in the neck and upper chest after tooth extraction and discussed the possible mechanisms of pneumomediastinum.

Purpose: A primary spontaneous pneumothorax is a condition that occurs predominantly in young and thin male individuals who do not have any history of underlying lung disease. Various techniques such as pleural abrasion and pleurectomy are used to reduce the recurrence rate, but there exists no consensus among surgeons on which surgical technique offers the lowest risk of recurrence. We aimed to compare the efficiency and recurrence risk of pleural abrasion and pleurectomy methods in patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax undergoing a wedge resection for the bulleous part of the paranchyme.Materials and Methods: Statistically compared variables between the 2 groups were age, sex, symptoms, smoking status, number of previous pneumothorax episodes, surgical indication, bleb number, estimated blood loss, intraoperative complication, duration of the surgery, conversion to open surgery, postoperative drainage amount, chest tube removal time, length of hospital stay, morbidity, mortality, duration of narcotic analgesic usage, pain according to Visual Analog Scale evaluation, follow-up period, and postoperative recurrence. Results:The medical records of 88 patients undergoing surgery between 2013 and 2017 were reviewed retrospectively. The pleural abrasion group was superior to the pleurectomy group in terms of operation time, drainage volume, time to drain removal, hospital stay, and Visual Analog Scale pain score on postoperative day 0. Statistically, there was no difference between the pleural abrasion group and the pleurectomy group in the recurrence rates after operation (2.0% vs. 2.5%, respectively; P = 0.89).Conclusions: Thoracoscopic pleural abrasion is safer than apical pleurectomy and is associated with the same pneumothorax recurrence rate.

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