Over one million cases of the SARS-CoV-2 virus have been confirmed worldwide, with the death toll exceeding 50,000 people. An important issue to be addressed concerns the exposure of health professionals to this new virus. The first reports from Wuhan province, China, described infection rates of up to 29% among healthcare professionals before the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) was fully regulated. There are several protocols on the correct use of PPE during aerosol-generating procedures. However, there is no specific guidance on how to proceed in cases of need for chest tubes in patients with positive COVID-19 active air leak. The objective of this work is to assist surgeons of the most diverse specialties during the chest drainage of a patient with COVID-19 and to avoid a risk of contamination to the professional and the environment.
Objective: To report the case of a patient with renal cell carcinoma of the clear cell type with the presence of metastatic disease at diagnosis, affecting the adrenal, lung and pericardium. Evolving with cardiac tamponade and need for urgent surgical intervention, being performed through thoracoscopy, a pericardiectomy for making a pericardial window.
Method: The information was obtained by reviewing the medical record, interviewing the patient, photographic record of the diagnostic methods to which the patient was submitted and literature review.
Final considerations: The reported case brings to light the description of a common clinical condition in medical centers in this case, cardiac tamponade, caused by renal carcinoma of which cardiac metastatic presentation represents a low index, and the need for urgent surgical intervention as an outcome.
TO THE EDITOR:Thymomas and thymic carcinomas are rare, accounting for 20% of all mediastinal tumors. They are usually diagnosed as incidental findings on chest imaging performed for another reason or performed because of the presence of mass effect-related symptoms or paraneoplastic syndrome, such as myasthenia gravis. They have similar incidence in men and women and most commonly occur in the 40-to 60-year age group. There are no risk factors. (1,2) We would like to present the case of a 79-year-old female patient who presented to our facility with a two-month history of weight loss and constipation. She was admitted to the hospital with signs of intestinal obstruction, abdominal bloating, and vomiting. A nasogastric tube drained 3,000 mL of stool-like secretion. Abdominal X-ray and ultrasound revealed a dilated stomach with an air-fluid level ( Figures 1A and 1B). Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed no points of mechanical obstruction; there was erosive reflux esophagitis, exuberant gastric dilatation associated with gastric stasis, and hypertrophic pyloric stenosis. Serology for Chagas disease was negative.The assessment continued with abdominal CT, which showed no evidence of any obstructive factor or tumor, and chest CT, which identified a well-demarcated anterior mediastinal mass with a maximum diameter of approximately 5 cm and no invasion of adjacent structures ( Figure 1C). Given the possibility of paraneoplastic syndrome, video-assisted thoracoscopic resection was performed, and pathological examination showed small cell neoplasm of uncertain malignant histogenesis and immunohistochemistry, confirming the diagnosis of type B1 thymoma.Following tumor resection, the patient experienced a lower frequency of vomiting and was able to tolerate the diet. Gastrography was performed which showed contrast progression and a normal-sized stomach with peristalsis ( Figure 1D). A second endoscopy revealed a normal stomach with strong peristaltic waves and no sign of previous hypertrophic pyloric stenosis. The patient was discharged on an oral diet. Serum antibody testing for myasthenia gravis and paraneoplastic syndrome was ordered.Gastroparesis consists of delayed gastric emptying of solids in the absence of mechanical obstruction. The A B C D Figure 1. In A and B, abdominal X-ray showing gastric bloating. In C, CT scan showing a well-demarcated anterior mediastinal tumor. In D, gastrography showing normal gastric emptying.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.