Chest tubes, lung entrapment, and failure to wean from the ventilator. Report of three patients with quadriplegia.

Abstract

The cases of three patients with traumatic quadriplegia who had been treated with chest tubes are described. Each had been injured at a neurologic level that typically allows weaning from the ventilator, yet none was able to clear refractory atelectasis or become ventilator free. Each underwent surgery during which lung adhesions, entrapment, or deformation at the former chest tube site were identified and corrected. Subsequently, each patient cleared his atelectasis and weaned from the ventilator. These cases suggest the importance of ruling out lung deformity in individuals with ventilator-dependent quadriplegia who have had chest tubes and unexpectedly fail to wean.