Why do they have to insert a tube in my step-dad's chest, they said he has a!


Question: Why do they have to insert a tube in my step-dad's chest, they said he has air in his lungs!?
that doesn't make much sense to me!.Www@Answer-Health@Com


Answers:
He had a pneumothorax or air in the "pleura" of his lungs!. The lungs are very elastic and by themselves will collapse!. The PLEURA is like a large, closed balloon AROUND the lungs - but it has NO air in it - rather is is a vacuum (actually has negative air pressure)!. When the DIAPHRAGM (a large muscle between the chest and the abdomen) contracts, it pulls the walls of the pleura apart from each other!. This creates even more negative pressure in the plural cavity, which literally pulls the lungs open!. When this happens, air goes into the lungs!.

If air is allowed into this pleural cavity, it destroys its natural vacuum!. So when the diaphragm muscle contracts, it no longer creates a much greater vaccuum in the pleural cavity!. Instead, more air rushed into the plueral cavity - which then does NOT pull the lungs open!. No air is pulled into the lungs and the person falls into respiratory distress!.

The treatment is to insert a tube into the PLEURAL CAVITY (NOT into the lung tissue itself) and suck the air out, allowing it to re-establish its normal vacuum!. (The area where the tube penetrates the skin must be sealed off, so that no air is allowed into the pleural cavity along the sides of the tube!.)

I have done this procedure many times - usually it is air in the pleural cavity, but sometimes fluids (including blood)!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

Your father probably had what is called a pneumothorax!. What that means is that there was a puncture in one of his lungs and it drastically alters the normal way that he breathes in and out by trapping air in his chest!.
This can be dangerous, so what the doctors do is put a tube in his lungs that releases the trapped air and allows him to have normal respirations until his lungs heal!.Www@Answer-Health@Com

Probably they would have meant "AIR IN THE PLEURA' OTHERWISE KNOWN AS PNEUMOTHORAX!.!. Which is a emergency condition where the inhaled air gets trapped in the pleural membrane that covers the lung which makes the patient to really intolerable to breathe and the pain is almost excruciating!.!. so the only effective and immediate cure is draining out the air in the pleura via a tube inserted through the intercostal space in the arm pit area or just below it!.!.! this immediately relieves the struggle of your dad!.!. so no worries and no doubts!.!.! its just 15 mins procedure!.!.! no sideeffects whatsoever!.!.!. 100 percent effective!.!.!
the procedure is called intercostal drainage!

jack 4952 is absolutely right!Www@Answer-Health@Com

hi there first of all i think they explained wrong or you miss understood, im not a doctor but i know that sometimes u can get air on the outside of your lungs, this can cause a depression of the lung [it goes flat] and this can make you very very short of breath, imagine being able to take short breaths only!.

ok now to alleviate this [make it better] u puncture the chest above the air bubble and the air escapes out the gap and relieves the pressure holding the lung down meaning u can take a full breath again!.

its really nothing serious to worry about, finding why the air got there in the first problem is most likely what they'll do next and take preventative measures so ur dad doesn't have to be treated for the collapsed lung =]

this isn't 100% accurate but its more for explanation than 100% science, Www@Answer-Health@Com

Sorry to hear that, but hospitals are scary places!. Sometimes they do alot of things we don't understand!. Right now you have to trust that they do the right thing for your stepdad, and things will get better! Good luck!Www@Answer-Health@Com





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