The role of new staplers in reducing the incidence of air leak.

Surgical staplers play an important role in the contemporary minimally invasive thoracic surgery including resection of lung tissue. However, staple line failure resulting in postoperative air leaks is a common complication after lung surgery, that if persist more than five days are defined as prolonged air leaks (PALs). PALs are associated with increased length of stay, patient morbidity and mortality, and hospital costs.

ERS clinical fellowship report.

http://ow.ly/WmiY306uzUM.

Spotlight on esophageal perforation: A multinational study using the Pittsburgh esophageal perforation severity scoring system.

Objective: The Pittsburgh group has suggested a perforation severity score (PSS) for better decision making in the management of esophageal perforation. Our study aim was to determine whether the PSS can be used to stratify patients with esophageal perforation into distinct subgroups with differential outcomes in an independent study population.

Methods: In a retrospective study cases of esophageal perforation were collected (study-period, 1990-2014).