Gasping for air

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A saving intervention at the last moment

Juliana C. presented herself in Dr. Malte Schmidtpott’s office hours struggling to breathe, coughing and with blue lips. In February, the 52 year old was treated at another hospital for pneumonia, but her condition did not improve. The x-ray of her lungs showed a so-called total shadow of the left side. The fluid between the lungs and the costal pleura was causing the complete left side of the lung to be suppressed. The oxygen saturation had become dangerously low. Juliane could barely breathe and needed a lot of oxygen through an oxygen mask. She would not have survived in this state much longer.

The Pulmonologist performed a puncture of the left ribcage and withdrew 2 liters of fluid. This brought relief, but was not enough. As a next step, Surgeon, Dr. Annette Haar and Dr. Schmidtpott placed a drainage tube between the ribs to draw out further liquid. Juliana could finally breathe deeply again, for which she was very thankful. The internist followed up with further diagnostic examinations, to determine the cause of the severe fluid infiltration.

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A massive pleural effusion on the left side is pushing the heart over to the right.
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