Case report – Male, 65 years old
published: 14.12.2009
Petr Habal, M.D., Charles University, Prague, Medical Faculty, Hradec Králové, Department of Cardio surgery, Faculty Hospital, Hradec Králové
A male patient born in 1944 has been treated for COPD since the year 1999 (at present he is GOLD class IV). During the past three years, the patient was repeatedly hospitalized for recurrent lung collapse. The last attack of pneumothorax was managed surgically due to a severe respiratory distress. The source of air leakage was located at the callose edge of the perforated emphysematous bulla (Fig. 1). We sutured the very fragile tissue with a stapler device and we used Traumacel Stapler Seam Protection as a washer for the metal staples. This enhanced suture seemed to give excellent results, as the staples have not cut out from the suture and no secondary air leakage has occurred, unlike many times before, even after the re-expansion of the pulmonary tissue (Fig. 2).
Conclusion I suppose the new device, Traumacel Stapler Seam Protection, improves the surgical technique especially at the patients in terminal stage of disease where the surgical therapy is the latest alternative.
