Chest tube clogging or occlusion can lead to worse outcomes as it prevents adequate drainage of the pleural space, contributing to the problem of retained hemothorax.
12.
In this case, patients can be hypoxic, short of breath, or in some cases, the retained hemothorax can become infected ( empyema ).
13.
As a result of the body's response to the presence of blood in the pleura, a small hemothorax may lead to a bloody pleural effusion.
14.
When hemothorax is treated with a chest tube, it is important that it maintain its function so that the blood cannot clot in the chest or the tube.
15.
Furthermore, complications such as pleural effusion or hemothorax can occur if the chest tubes fail to drain the fluid around the lung in the pleural space after a thoracotomy.
16.
Spontaneous hemothorax or hemopneumothorax may be occur with endometriosis, if endometrial tissue implants on the pleural surface, then bleeds in response to cyclical hormonal changes in menstruating women.
17.
A collapsed lung can result when the pleural cavity ( the space outside the lung ) accumulates blood ( hemothorax ) or air ( pneumothorax ) or both ( hemopneumothorax ).
18.
What he did have was a sheared blood vessel that led to a condition known as " hemothorax, " in which blood, not air, enters the lungs.
19.
As the blood thickens, it can clot in the pleural space ( leading to a retained hemothorax ) or within the chest tube, leading to chest tube clogging or occlusion.
20.
Retained hemothorax occurs when blood remains in the pleural space, and is a risk factor for the development of complications, including the accumulation of pus in the pleural space and fibrothorax.
