Getting Your Brain and Body Back by Bradford C. Berk

Author:Bradford C. Berk
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Experiment
Published: 2021-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

Lung Problems

Mechanical problems: In people with SCI and TBI, the trauma from the event that caused the injury may break the ribs. This can puncture the lungs and cause bleeding into the chest that “squeezes” air out of the lungs, resulting in their collapse. If enough ribs are broken, the integrity of the chest wall will be destroyed so that it can no longer cohesively move in and out, causing a mechanical failure of lung ventilation. Treatment consists of a three eighths–inch tube inserted between the ribs and into the space between the chest wall and the collapsed lung to drain the blood and other fluids. The tube is connected to suction to speed up the drainage, which will require two to three days. A chest X-ray will monitor re-expansion of the lung, at which point the tube can be removed.

Hospital-acquired pneumonia is a lung infection acquired in the hospital more than forty-eight hours after admission. This type of pneumonia is usually more severe than other types for two reasons. First, you are already in the hospital for an illness that causes significant stress to your body’s immune system. Second, the organisms that cause infections in the hospital may be more resistant to antibiotics. After ANI, you’re especially prone to pneumonia because of five breathing problems:

• mechanical ventilation (being on a ventilator)

• secretions (fluid from the lungs that can clog the breathing tubes)

• atelectasis (collapse of parts of the lung)

• aspiration (food and material from your stomach and mouth get into your lungs; Figure 14)

• obstructive sleep apnea (periods when breathing stops while sleeping, which predisposes you to heart and lung problems; see page 000)

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.