Revue des maladies respiratoires
-
Amongst the rare causes of haemoptysis rupture of the great vessels is always a possibility. An aorto-bronchial fistula is a rare complication of thoracic aneurysms of the aorta. ⋯ Our observation concerns a patient of 61 with previous vascular problems who was discovered to have a mediastinal tumour following dysphonia and haemoptysis. Aortography and surgical intervention revealed that this was a false aneurysm of the horizontal part of the aorta which had developed a fistula in the bronchus.
-
General anaesthesia in pregnancy is still responsible for a significant morbidity and mortality. The most common and most serious complications are respiratory secondary to changes induced by pregnancy. These are dominated by hypoxia during difficult intubation and inhalation of gastric contents. Their incidence could be largely reduced by the extensive use of regional local anaesthesia.
-
The stimulation of the phrenic nerves in the neck is one of the techniques for the examination of diaphragmatic contractility. Current methods are restricted by their painful (transcutaneous stimulation) or even potentially dangerous nature (needle stimulation). ⋯ Three healthy subjects have been studied using an EMG and transdiaphragmatic pressure measurements (Pdi.) Pdi values obtained by SMC (36.5 +/- 13.5 cm H2O) and their relation to maximal Pdi (22.6 +/- 7%) and to the Pdi at the time of maximal sniff-Pdi sniff (34.7 +/- 8%) were comparable to those values obtained using other methods and were reproducible. The preliminary results show that SMC is a technique for the study of the phrenic nerve and diaphragm which has the advantage of simplicity in use, is repeatable and is completely innocuous.