Before reading this article, I had concerns with the risk for complications when injecting saline solution. I also was unsure of the surgical plan for a pneumothorax.
2. Did your thoughts change?
I found that the saline solution injection helps locate and air leak before surgery, rather than blindly going into surgery to find the issue. Sometimes surgeons fail to locate all the problems and this causes more complications and higher reoccurrence rate. The saline solution drains out when the patient stands up after the CT scan, thus, there have been no reported complications.
3. How will this research impact your practice?
This new method causes less complications postoperatively for patients because saline solution shows an estimated location for the surgeons. Therefore, the leak will be located and resolved the first time and the patient will spend less time in surgery. …show more content…
Intervention: Using saline solution to determine an estimated location for pneumothorax.
Comparison: A standard CT scan with contrast versus using saline solution and vocalization.
Outcome results implication: Air leaks were located and fixed using low-cost saline