Resident physician training in bedside pleural procedures: A one-year experience at a teaching hospital.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: This study aims to quantify bedside pleural procedures performed at a quaternary teaching hospital describing technical and epidemiological aspects. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors retrospectively reviewed consecutive patients who underwent invasive thoracic bedside procedures between March 2022 and February 2023. RESULTS: 463 chest tube insertions and 200 thoracenteses were performed during the study period. Most procedures were conducted by 1st-year Thoracic Surgery residents, with Ultrasound Guidance (USG). There was a notable preference for small-bore pigtail catheters, with a low rate of immediate complications. CONCLUSION: Bedside thoracic procedures are commonly performed in current medical practice and are significant in surgical resident training. The utilization of pigtail catheters and point-of-care ultrasonography by surgical residents in pleural procedures is increasingly prevalent and demonstrates high safety.

Slide tracheoplasty for congenital tracheal stenosis with involvement of the carina and bronchi: a case report.

A female newborn presented with respiratory distress at birth and was diagnosed with congenital tracheal stenosis. The stenosis was positioned at the distal trachea and compromised the carina and the right and left bronchi. She underwent surgical treatment using circulatory life support with veno-arterial peripheral extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and the airway was reconstructed using the slide tracheoplasty technique to build a neocarina. The patient had an excellent postoperative course, was successfully weaned from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and invasive ventilation, and was discharged.

Treatment of tracheal stenosis with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support in infants and newborns.

Tracheal stenosis in children is a challenge for the healthcare team, since it is a rare disease. Patients usually have other clinical comorbidities, mainly previous cardiac surgical interventions. This retrospective single-center study included infants with tracheal stenosis (congenital or acquired) operated between 2016 and 2020 on venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA ECMO). Five patients were operated and the median age of detection of the tracheal disease was 3.7 months, and the median age at the operation was 5 months. All patients had associated cardiac anomalies. Four patients had congenital tracheal stenosis; two with associated pig bronchus. One patient had acquired subglottic stenosis with concomitant stenosis at the carina. After the operation, the patients were referred to ICU on ECMO with an open chest. Minor ECMO-related complications occurred in two patients (hemothorax and wound infection). All patients required endoscopic evaluation during the postoperative care; median of 3.2 procedures. Two patients are currently in follow-up and three have died. Slide tracheoplasty with VA-ECMO can be successfully performed in infants with prior cardiac surgery. Nevertheless, a difficult postoperative course should be anticipated, with possible prolonged ECMO use, readmissions, and higher morbidity and mortality than in children with tracheal stenosis alone.