Iatrogenic pneumothorax: experience of a Moroccan Emergency Center

AbstractThe incidence of iatrogenic pneumothorax (IPx) will increase with invasive procedures particularly at training hospitals, which is why we have made a retrospective study of the common diagnostic or therapeutic causes of IPx and its impact on morbidity. From January 2011 to December 2012, 36 patients developed IPx as emergencies, after an invasive procedure .Their mean age was 38 years (range: 19-69 years). Of the patients, 21 (58%) were male and 15 (42%) were female. The purpose was diagnostic in 6 cases and therapeutic in 30 cases. In 8 patients (22%) the procedure was performed due to underlying lung diseases and in 28 patients (78%) for other diseases. The procedure most frequently causing IPnx was central venous catheterization, with 20 patients (55%), other frequent causes were mechanical ventilation, 8 cases (22%) of whom we reported 3 cases of bilateral pneumothorax, 6 cases of thoracentesis (16%) and 2 patients had life-saving percutaneous tracheotomy. The majority of our patients were managed by a small chest tube placement (unilateral n=30, bilateral n=3).The average duration of drainage was 3 days (range: 1-15 days), sadly one of our patients died of ischemic brain damage 15 days after tracheotomy.At training hospitals the incidence of IPnx will increase with the increase in invasive procedures, which should only be performed by experienced personnel or under their supervision

Surgical treatment of aspergilloma grafted in hydatid cyst cavity

Aspergilloma is a saprophytic infection that colonizes pre-existing cavities in the lung. These cavities are caused by tuberculosis, bronchiectasis, lung cancer and other pulmonary diseases. Development of aspergilloma in the residual cavities after pulmonary hydatid cyst surgery is rarely described in terms of coexistence of the two conditions. We describe 3 cases of pulmonary aspergilloma grafted in a residual cavity of cystectomy for hydatid disease. Resumo: Aspergiloma é uma infecção saprófita que coloniza cavidades pré-existentes no pulmão. Estas cavidades são causadas por tuberculose, bronquiectasias, cancro do pulmão e outras doenças pulmonares. O desenvolvimento de aspergiloma em cavidades residuais, após cirurgia pulmonar de quisto hidático, raramente é descrito em termos de coexistência das duas condições. Descrevemos 3 casos de enxerto de aspergiloma pulmonar numa cavidade residual de cistectomia para doença hidática. Keywords: Hydatid cyst, Aspergilloma, Surgery, Capitonnage, Palavras-chave: Quisto hidático, Aspergiloma, Cirurgia, Capitonage

Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on surgery for indeterminate thyroid nodules (THYCOVID): a retrospective, international, multicentre, cross-sectional study.

Since its outbreak in early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has diverted resources from non-urgent and elective procedures, leading to diagnosis and treatment delays, with an increased number of neoplasms at advanced stages worldwide. The aims of this study were to quantify the reduction in surgical activity for indeterminate thyroid nodules during the COVID-19 pandemic; and to evaluate whether delays in surgery led to an increased occurrence of aggressive tumours. In this retrospective, international, cross-sectional study, centres were invited to participate in June 22, 2022; each centre joining the study was asked to provide data from medical records on all surgical thyroidectomies consecutively performed from Jan 1, 2019, to Dec 31, 2021. Patients with indeterminate thyroid nodules were divided into three groups according to when they underwent surgery: from Jan 1, 2019, to Feb 29, 2020 (global prepandemic phase), from March 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021 (pandemic escalation phase), and from June 1 to Dec 31, 2021 (pandemic decrease phase). The main outcomes were, for each phase, the number of surgeries for indeterminate thyroid nodules, and in patients with a postoperative diagnosis of thyroid cancers, the occurrence of tumours larger than 10 mm, extrathyroidal extension, lymph node metastases, vascular invasion, distant metastases, and tumours at high risk of structural disease recurrence. Univariate analysis was used to compare the probability of aggressive thyroid features between the first and third study phases. The study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05178186. Data from 157 centres (n=49 countries) on 87 467 patients who underwent surgery for benign and malignant thyroid disease were collected, of whom 22 974 patients (18 052 [78·6%] female patients and 4922 [21·4%] male patients) received surgery for indeterminate thyroid nodules. We observed a significant reduction in surgery for indeterminate thyroid nodules during the pandemic escalation phase (median monthly surgeries per centre, 1·4 [IQR 0·6-3·4]) compared with the prepandemic phase (2·0 [0·9-3·7]; p<0·0001) and pandemic decrease phase (2·3 [1·0-5·0]; p<0·0001). Compared with the prepandemic phase, in the pandemic decrease phase we observed an increased occurrence of thyroid tumours larger than 10 mm (2554 [69·0%] of 3704 vs 1515 [71·5%] of 2119; OR 1·1 [95% CI 1·0-1·3]; p=0·042), lymph node metastases (343 [9·3%] vs 264 [12·5%]; OR 1·4 [1·2-1·7]; p=0·0001), and tumours at high risk of structural disease recurrence (203 [5·7%] of 3584 vs 155 [7·7%] of 2006; OR 1·4 [1·1-1·7]; p=0·0039). Our study suggests that the reduction in surgical activity for indeterminate thyroid nodules during the COVID-19 pandemic period could have led to an increased occurrence of aggressive thyroid tumours. However, other compelling hypotheses, including increased selection of patients with aggressive malignancies during this period, should be considered. We suggest that surgery for indeterminate thyroid nodules should no longer be postponed even in future instances of pandemic escalation. None