Abstract
Management of spontaneous pneumothorax would be improved by mounting multiple devices on the same side of the body http://ow.ly/7x7B30mrAnq
To the Editor:
At a relatively young age, I had the misfortune to be diagnosed with spontaneous pneumothorax and go through video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.
When a patient is admitted for spontaneous pneumothorax, the clinical staff usually mounts two types of devices on the patient: 1) an intravenous rehydration infusion set, and 2) a chest tube. When these two devices are mounted, each on a different side of the body (i.e. the intravenous rehydration infusion set is attached to the patient's right hand and the tube is attached to the left side of the patient's chest), the patient's mobility becomes limited, pain intensity may increase, and it becomes more difficult to get out of bed and walk.
Future spontaneous pneumothorax patients would feel more comfortable if both devices were mounted on the same side of the body. I believe that such a minor change in clinical practice could make a difference for many patients, and I hope that the guideline for management of spontaneous pneumothorax [1] will be updated accordingly.
Footnotes
Conflict of interest: U. Kartoun received honoraria and travel funding from The American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (October 2017).
- Received October 1, 2018.
- Accepted October 7, 2018.
- Copyright ©ERS 2018