A 77-year-old man who had underwent orthopedic surgery 17 days ago due to his left femur fracture caused by a pedestrian-car accident came to our emergency department with the chief complaint of a 2 days history of sore throat and cough and also swelling of eyelids. He had no respiratory distress or any other life-threatening symptoms. Subsequent physical examination revealed remarkable edema and crepitus over the whole face, neck, proximal upper limbs and the anterior and posterior chest regions, and also bilateral hyperresonance was detected in pulmonary auscultation. The imaging studies showed pneumomediastinum and bilateral subcutaneous emphysema. The diagnosis of pneumomediastinum and mild left pneumothorax and massive subcutaneous emphysema was definitely made. He underwent bilateral tube thoracostomy by using a 32 French chest tube under local anesthesia in the fifth intercostal space on the anterior axillary line. The patient was discharged with no complications 10 days postoperatively.
Accidents, Traffic ; Adolescent ; Humans ; Male ; Mediastinal Emphysema ; diagnosis ; Pneumothorax ; Subcutaneous Emphysema ; diagnosis

The present study aimed to determine the relationship between the level of air pollutants and the rate of ischemic stroke (IS) admissions to hospitals. In this retrospective cross-sectional study, stroke admissions (January-March 2012 and 2013) to an emergency department and air pollution and meteorological data were gathered. The relationship between air pollutant levels and hospital admission rates were evaluated using the generalize additive model. In all 379 patients with IS were referred to the hospital (52.5% male; mean age 68.2+/-13.3 years). Both transient (p<0.001) and long-term (p<0.001) rises in CO level increases the risk of IS. Increased weekly (p<0.001) and monthly (p<0.001) average O3 levels amplifies this risk, while a transient increase in NO2 (p<0.001) and SO2 (p<0.001) levels has the same effect. Long-term changes in PM(10) (p<0.001) and PM(2.5) (p<0.001) also increase the risk of IS. The findings showed that the level of air pollutants directly correlates with the number of stroke admissions to the emergency department.
Air Pollutants ; Air Pollution ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Humans ; Male ; Patient Admission ; Retrospective Studies ; Stroke