Fatal mediastinal compression as a late complication of surgical plombage.
Surgical plombage was used as a form of collapse therapy for pulmonary tuberculosis before the advent of reliable chemotherapy. A patient developed stridor, recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis, and obstruction of the superior vena cava and eventually died as a result of haemorrhage into a large intrathoracic cyst, secondary to a polystan pack inserted 38 years previously.
Skinner
J S
JS
Department of Respiratory Medicine, South Cleveland Hospital, Middlesbrough.
Sinclair
D J
DJ
D000368:Aged; D003096:Collapse Therapy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008476:Mediastinal Cyst / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed