We report a case of successful, long-term pleurovenous shunt (PVS) in treating refractory nonmalignant hepatic hydrothorax. An 82-year-old woman with liver cirrhosis, hypertension complicated with chronic renal failure while on hemodialysis, presented with progressive dyspnea in association with a recurrent right-sided pleural effusion, occurring secondary to transdiaphragmatic migration of ascites. The diagnosis was established by a demonstration of (99m)Tc-sulphur colloid sequential scintigraphic scan. Despite repetitive thoracenteses and traditional medical treatment, she suffered dyspnea without relief. Denver peritoneovenous shunt was inserted into the right-sided pleural cavity to drain effusion into the subclavian vein without short- and long-term complications. Manually pumping schedule of 10 min was performed twice daily to remove pleural fluid into the venous circulation for maintaining shunt patency. After 19 months of follow-up, the patient is doing well and PVS remains patent without significant pleural effusion. PVS opens a window of opportunity and offers an alternative procedure with minimal invasiveness for high-risk patients with refractory hepatic hydrothorax. It could be an alternative treatment to other conventional surgical interventions.
A T tube is an upper airway device well described in the literature which is used to maintain tracheal lumen patency. Although tube occlusion is a known complication, it can be minimized by certain precautions. Otherwise, total occlusion can result in dramatic clinical deterioration or death. Herein, we describe a new clinical entity, ‘tricho-tracheobezoar’, using a new term defining a hairball in the trachea, which illustrates many of the potential pitfalls in the management of T tubes.
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