Chest
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Case Reports
A 60-Year-Old Woman With Cough, Dyspnea, and Atelectasis 19 Years After Liver Transplant.
A 60-year-old black woman presented with nonproductive cough of 1-month duration. She had also experienced rapidly progressive dyspnea for 1 week and one bout of vomiting a day before presentation. ⋯ Her medical history was significant for diabetes mellitus and liver transplant 19 years earlier for hepatitis C cirrhosis, for which she was receiving tacrolimus and mycophenolate. She was a current smoker with 40 pack-years of smoking history.
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Case Reports
Three-dimensional Modeled T-tube Design and Insertion in a Patient With Tracheal Dehiscence.
A 68-year-old man with recurrent medullary thyroid cancer underwent cervical tracheal resection and reconstruction. His course was complicated by tracheal anastomotic dehiscence, right carotid blowout, and ultimately cervical tracheoplasty with AlloDerm. Given the complex vascular interventions and upper-airway anatomy, a custom-designed Montgomery T-tube was designed for him. ⋯ The patient was discharged to home with the ability to phonate. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of three-dimensional modeling of an upper-airway defect with subsequent T-tube design using engineering software. The success of this case demonstrates a possible avenue for personalized airway prosthesis design and manufacturing in the future.
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A 44-year-old man presented with a 3-day history of persistent upper-back pain, chest discomfort, and dyspnea. He denied any precipitating events such as trauma or vigorous activity before the presentation of symptoms. ⋯ Chest CT scan performed during an asthma exacerbation 2 years earlier demonstrated two left-side lung blebs. He had no prior surgical procedures.