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Pleuroscopy

Categories: PLEUROSCOPY
Sources: A Manual Of Peroral Endoscopy And Laryngeal Surgery

Foreign bodies in the pleural cavity should be immediately removed.

The esophageal speculum inserted through a small intercostal incision

makes an excellent pleuroscope, its spatular tip being of particular

value in moving the lung out of the way. This otherwise dark cavity is

thus brilliantly illuminated without the necessity of making a large

flap resection, an important factor in those cases in which there is

no infection present. The pleura and wound may be immediately closed

without drainage, if the pleura is not infected. Excessive plus

pressure or pus may require reopening. In one case in which the author

removed a foreign body by pleuroscopy, healing was by first intention

and the lung filled in a few days. Drainage tubes that have slipped up

into the empyemic cavity are foreign bodies. They are readily removed

with the retrograde esophagoscope even through the smallest fistula.

The aspirating canal keeps a clear field while searching for the

drain.



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