Thoracic Trauma
Key Concepts Print Section Listen Epidemiology Twenty percent of all trauma patients sustain chest injuries. Pathophysiology Thoracic injuries, like with all traumas, can result from blunt or penetrating mechanism. Fractures…
Primary Lung Cancer
Key Concepts Print Section Listen Epidemiology Lung cancer is a leading cause of preventable death attributed to smoking and environmental exposure. Its highest incidence is in men but recent trends…
Thoracic Infections
Key Concepts Print Section Listen The etiology and clinical manifestations of pneumonia depend on the environment where the disease is acquired and the host characteristics. Treatment of pneumonia is based…
Pulmonary Physiology, Function Tests, and Bronchoscopic Techniques
Key Concepts Print Section Listen Epidemiology Pulmonary complications occur in 5 to 10 percent of all surgical patients and have been shown to prolong hospital stay by 1 to 2…
Tracheal Diseases
Key Concepts Print Section Listen Epidemiology Primary tracheal tumors are rare, with an estimated 2.7 new cases diagnosed per million persons per year. The many remaining tracheal pathologies comprise heterogeneous…
Surgical Management of Emphysema
Key Concepts Print Section Listen Epidemiology It is estimated that two to three million patients suffer from emphysema. Pathophysiology Except for rare cases caused by enzyme deficiency, smoking is the…
Pulmonary Metastasis
Key Concepts Print Section Listen Metastatic disease to the lung is the second-most common pulmonary malignancy, affecting 20 to 54 percent of patients with cancer. A subset of patients with…
Congenital Pulmonary Disorders
Key Concepts Print Section Listen Epidemiology Congenital pulmonary anomalies include a multitude of clinical entities linked by a common developmental lineage. The prevalence is dependent upon the particular malformation. These…
Preoperative Evaluation of the Thoracic Surgical Patient
Key Concepts Print Section Listen Role of preoperative evaluation The role of the preoperative evaluation is to (1) determine the risk and morbidity associated with the proposed operation and (2)…
PYODERMA GANGRENOSUM
PATIENT STORY Print Section Listen A 35-year-old woman with no significant medical history presented with a painful ulcer on the right pretibial area. It started as a small pustule that…
