Reporting of patient safety incidents in minimally invasive thoracic surgery: a national registered thoracic surgeons experience for improvement of patient safety.

Objectives: The reporting of patient safety incidents (PSIs) occurring in minimally invasive thoracic surgery (MITS) is crucial. However, previous reports focused mainly on catastrophic events whereas minor events are often underreported.

Methods: All voluntary reports of MITS-related PSIs were retrospectively extracted from the French REX database for 'in-depth analysis'.

[Exceptional association of bilateral popliteal aneurysm with an abdominal aortic aneurysm in Marfan syndrome].

Marfan syndrome is an autosomal dominant disorder with rheumatoid, ophthalmological, neurological, cutaneous and cardiovascular manifestations. Aneurysmal lesions affecting both the abdominal aorta and the peripheral arteries are not often described in the literature. We report a case associating a bilateral popliteal aneurysm and an aneurysm of the infra-renal abdominal aorta.

Early postoperative prophylactic noninvasive ventilation after major lung resection in COPD patients: a randomized controlled trial.

Objectives: To investigate whether prophylactic postoperative NIV prevents respiratory complications following lung resection surgery in COPD patients.

Methods: In seven thoracic surgery departments, 360 COPD patients undergoing lung resection surgery were randomly assigned to two groups: conventional postoperative treatment without (n = 179) or with (n = 181) prophylactic NIV, applied intermittently during 6 h per day for 48 h following surgery. The primary endpoint was the rate of acute respiratory events (ARE) at 30 days postoperatively (ITT analysis).

[Results of FDG-PET scanning in the pre-operative staging of broncho-pulmonary tumors].

Background: Positron emission tomography (PET) with [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) has recently established itself as an important imaging strategy in the management of respectable non-small cell bronchial carcinoma (NSCLC). In this study we report our experience of the impact of FDG-PET in the pre-operative assessment of NSCLC.

Methods: In a single centre retrospective study between 01 January 2000 and 31 Dec 2002, 108 FDGPET scans were performed during the preoperative assessment of histologically proven or strongly suspected NSCLC.