BMJ case reports
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Case Reports
Successful percutaneous drainage of pneumatoceles in an extremely low-birthweight infant.
Pneumatoceles are thin-walled, air-filled cystic lesions developing within the lung parenchyma. It used to be a relatively common entity in the presurfactant era when preterm babies were ventilated at an unacceptably high positive pressure for respiratory distress syndrome. ⋯ We here report a case of extremely low-birthweight (ELBW) neonate who developed large bilateral pneumatoceles after staphylococcal pneumonia. Hereby, we present a case of an ELBW infant with bilateral massive pneumatoceles who underwent successful percutaneous catheter drainage to decompress these pneumatoceles.
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A young man with a history of smoking presented with acute-onset chest pain after lifting weights. He also noticed a change in his voice, tightness in his neck and difficulty breathing. A chest radiograph showed soft tissue emphysema in the neck. ⋯ He was haemodynamically stable and had no hypoxia or dysphagia. He was monitored for 48 hours and discharged home after resolution of his symptoms. A chest radiograph repeated after 6 weeks was normal.
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Lemierre's syndrome is a potentially life-threatening consequence of oropharyngeal and ear infections and often results in critical care admission and even intubation. Due to the multisystem manifestation, multiple teams may initially be involved in the care, some of which may be unfamiliar with the features and usual clinical course. ⋯ At follow-up 3 months after discharge, the patient was well with no residual symptoms off all treatment. During the events of this case, it became apparent that while ear, nose and throat and infectious diseases team members were relatively familiar with the condition, other departments including the critical care team were less so.