AUTHOR=Panza Teodora , Quercia Rosatea , Signore Francesca , De Iaco Giulia , Brascia Debora , Sampietro Doroty , Gasbarro Anna Rita , Dell’Aera Maria , Lorusso Vito , Marulli Giuseppe , De Palma Angela TITLE=Case report: Successful multimodal assessment and management of chemothorax JOURNAL=Frontiers in Surgery VOLUME=9 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/surgery/articles/10.3389/fsurg.2022.921968 DOI=10.3389/fsurg.2022.921968 ISSN=2296-875X ABSTRACT=

Dislocation or wrong placement of central venous catheters into the pleural cavity is rare, but if undiagnosed, may cause major, sometimes life-threatening, complications (pneumothorax, hemothorax, infection, and migration) and accidental pleural effusion due to intravenous injection of fluids containing drugs (i.e. chemotherapy, antibiotics, parenteral nutrition, other). We report a rare case of pleural effusion consisting of chemotherapy (chemothorax) directly injected into the pleural cavity due to the wrong placement of a central venous catheter (Porth-A-Cath) in a woman with breast cancer. A multidisciplinary management consisting of antidote administration, followed by removal of the venous device and washing of the pleural cavity through video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS), avoided any major complication related to the adverse event.