Severe Respiratory and Hemodynamic Failures following Successful Spontaneous Pneumothorax Drainage.

Spontaneous pneumothorax is a frequent situation in respiratory medicine, and its treatment is based on conservative treatment or pleural drainage. Reexpansion pulmonary edema (REPE) is often a mild complication following pneumothorax drainage. We report here a severe case of unilateral REPE following spontaneous pneumothorax drainage associated with major pulmonary plasmatic leakage.

Benefit-to-risk balance of bronchoalveolar lavage in the critically ill. A prospective, multicenter cohort study.

Purpose: To assess the benefit-to-risk balance of bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) in intensive care unit (ICU) patients.

Methods: In 16 ICUs, we prospectively collected adverse events during or within 24 h after BAL and assessed the BAL input for decision making in consecutive adult patients. The occurrence of a clinical adverse event at least of grade 3, i.

Complications of tracheostomy performed in the ICU: subthyroid tracheostomy vs surgical cricothyroidotomy.

Background: The morbidity of surgical tracheostomy performed in critically ill patients is not well-known. Accordingly, the aim of this prospective study was to determine the incidence and severity of complications associated with subthyroid tracheostomy and cricothyroidotomy when performed in the ICU.

Methods: Over a 2-year period, individual consecutive patients who were undergoing an elective tracheostomy were studied.