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Postoperative Emergency

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Emergency Chest Radiology

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Abstract

Complications after pulmonary resection surgery differ according to the types of surgery and the time elapsed after the surgery. To be familiar with surgical procedures, related to lung and esophageal resection and lung transplantation, appears to be the prerequisite for understanding postsurgical urgent conditions. Most common and dreaded complication is acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Chest radiograph and CT study show extensive parenchymal opacity in the remaining lung or the lobes. After lobectomy, the ARDS lead to denser opacity within the contralateral lung than that of remaining ipsilateral lung or lobe (nonlobectomy-site lung more extensively involved than the remaining lobectomy-site lung/lobes). Lobar torsion is rare, but when it occurs, it causes lobar volume increase with opacity. CT helps identify unusual anatomy (distortion) of the vessels and bronchus of the corresponding lobe. Cardiac herniation is also very rare, but with the improvement of imaging technique (multi-planar reformation and 3D rendering), the indentation of normal cardiac morphology or the constriction of the pericardial anatomy may be observed on CT scans. The demonstration of BPF (central or peripheral type) and anastomotic dehiscence is also feasible with the sophisticated CT rendering techniques. After lung transplantation, various complications are expected to be encountered. In this chapter, typical imaging features are illustrated with pertinent clinical conditions and related symptoms and signs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    Tae Jung Kim, Yeon Hyeon Choe & Kyung Soo Lee

  2. Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Kyonggi-do, Korea (Republic of)

    Kyung Hee Lee

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Kim, T.J., Lee, K.H., Choe, Y.H., Lee, K.S. (2021). Postoperative Emergency. In: Emergency Chest Radiology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4396-2_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4396-2_12

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