Sharing a PE surgery case (52 y/o man)
Thinking about sharing some surgery cases once in a while.
We have a 52 y/o male patient who's been living with PE since he was a kid. It didn’t really bother him much for most of his time, but after turning 40, things took a pretty bad turn. His chest got worse, and on top of that, he developed severe scoliosis, had a hard time breathing, and eventually landed in the hospital with heart failure. At one point, his oxygen levels were only at 70% when breathing normally. For reference, a healthy person’s oxygen levels should be around 95-100%, so 70% is super low. At that level, your body isn’t getting enough oxygen, which can make you feel really tired, dizzy, and in extreme cases, it can be life-threatening.
Our doctors put him on a ventilator to help, but the real issue was the chest wall deformity putting pressure on his lungs and heart. On August 27, he finally had surgery using both the Wung procedure and the Wenlin procedure. (Props to the ICWS surgical team!) The surgery went well, and the deformity was fixed. Now his oxygen levels are back above 90%, he’s finally getting some relief.
The wild part is that this started as a “no big deal” thing, but over time, the compression from the PE caused serious problems like scoliosis, respiratory issues, and even heart failure. Fortunately, the patients recovered well.
PS： The pictures and this article have all been approved for sharing by the patient.
update: Snapped some post-op pics in the ward. The patient’s getting discharged on the afternoon of the 12th! Recovery’s going well
