While watching Doctor House or ER, I saw that a patient can't breathe , a doctor pinch a pin to the patient's chest so the patients can breathe freely? What does the patients suffer?
I really want to know and the teacher seem to not trust me.
At least, tell me and describe the situation to tell me I am not having illusion on TV programme
2007-08-01 03:35:48 · 4 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Biology
They show this one a lot on medical shows. If a person's chest or lungs are damaged, air can enter the chest cavity, but can't escape. If the air ends up trapped inside the rib cage but outside the lungs, the pressure will prevent the lungs from expanding and filling up with air. There are two solutions to this problem:
1) Insert a tube down the throat, and use a ventilator to move air in and out of the lungs, since the patient can's do it on their own.
2) Insert a hollow needle into the chest cavity. When it hits the pocket of air, the pressure will be released and breathing can be resumed. Until the original injury is repaired, this process will have to be repeated every so often (which is why, if they can, they use special needles with a valve at the end, so they can leave the needle in place and just open the valve every so often). The doctor has to be careful, though, since if not careful, the needle can puncture the lungs again, and cause further injury.
2007-08-01 05:01:36 · answer #1 · answered by andymanec 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hey, nice question. What happens is, in some patients who have had trauma to the chest, sometimes they bleed into the pleural cavity OR they rupture the membrane and this causes air to rush into it. The pleural cavity is a very very thin cavity which is full of fluid, it has a membrane around it which lies on the outside of the lung and is essential to keep a vacuum so that the lungs can expand without gas escaping anywhere - it maintains a seal. Now if you have blood in this cavity the lungs can't inflate properly so inserting the tube gets rid of the blood and allows the lungs to expand. If the pleural membrane is ruptured then it can no longer maintain a vacuum and the lungs can't inflate due to the pleural cavity being filled with air. The tube is inserted to remove the extra air and then capped so that their is a new vacuum achieved. This allows the lungs to inflate properly again and hence they can breath. Phew! :)
2007-08-02 05:08:22 · answer #2 · answered by silverfox 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think you misinterpreted part of the scene. The patient must have had air in his chest cavity and a needle was inserted to relieve the collapsed lung.
2007-08-01 14:07:04 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Stop watching doctor shows. If you're studying to be a doctor, pay attention to what you are taught each day, not what's on TV. Stick with reality & you'll do just fine.
2007-08-01 10:45:12 · answer #4 · answered by Shortstuff13 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋