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CASE REPORT article
Front. Med.
Sec. Pulmonary Medicine
Volume 12 - 2025 |
doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1518935
This article is part of the Research Topic Case Reports in Pulmonary Medicine 2024 View all 25 articles
Airway clearance technique therapy for atelectasis induced by scoliosis surgery: A case report
Provisionally accepted- 1 Department of Critical Care Medicine, Ninth Medical Center, General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Beijing, China
- 2 Spine surgery, Ninth Medical Center, General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Beijing, China
The patient, a 55-year-old female presenting with spinal deformity and exertional dyspnea, was referred to the hospital. Radiographic evaluation of her spine revealed an "S"-shaped scoliosis with a Cobb angle measuring 68°, indicative of severe scoliosis. Despite receiving medication for expectoration, postoperative symptoms including chest tightness, breathlessness, and ineffective coughing persisted and progressively worsened. Subsequent chest CT scans demonstrated extensive atelectasis, and pharmacological interventions proved to be ineffective. Considering the patient's clinical condition, we implemented airway clearance technique (ACT) along with prone ventilation to optimize cough effectiveness and mitigate atelectasis formation. The airway clearance techniques (ACT) employed include nebulization, continuous positive expiratory pressure (CPEP), and continuoushigh frequency oscillation (CHFO). Chest CT imaging confirmed that ACT substantially alleviated the patient's pulmonary atelectasis. Moreover, blood gas analysis indicated significant improvements in both the PaO2/FiO2 ratio and base excess of whole blood. Follow-up evaluation one year post-discharge revealed a favorable prognosis for the patient. We anticipate that our experience utilizing these novel therapeutic modalities will provide valuable insights for clinicians managing similar complications.
Keywords: Airway clearance technique, Severe scoliosis, Atelectasis, Postoperative complications of scoliosis, case report
Received: 29 Oct 2024; Accepted: 24 Jan 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhai, Su, Wu, Tan, Zhang, Tian and Hu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Mei Hu, Department of Critical Care Medicine, Ninth Medical Center, General Hospital of the People's Liberation Army, Beijing, China
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