Mechanical chest compressions in an avalanche victim with cardiac arrest: an option for extreme mountain rescue operations.

Mountain rescue operations often present helicopter emergency medical service crews with unique challenges. One of the most challenging problems is the prehospital care of cardiac arrest patients during evacuation and transport. In this paper we outline a case in which we successfully performed a cardiopulmonary resuscitation of an avalanche victim. A mechanical chest-compression device proved to be a good way of minimizing hands-off time and providing high-quality chest compressions while the patient was evacuated from the site of the accident.

Successful repair of a subtotal rupture of distal tracheobronchial tree with complete abridgment of the right bronchus in a 4-year-old child.

Accurate diagnosis of tracheobronchial injuries in children is difficult due to the paucity of clinical presentation and the variety of clinical symptoms. They are potentially life threatening in blunt chest trauma. We report here on a clinical case of a boy who was injured during outdoor activity. We describe intraoperative findings of the massive tracheobronchial lesion and its successful repair using a pericardial patch technique and postoperative recovery. Such a serious tracheobronchial injury with a positive outcome has not been reported so far. Clinical and technical steps are described and discussed.