PEDIATRICS Vol. 63 No. 2 February 1979, pp. 252-255
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A New Device for Diagnosis and Treatment of Neonatal Pneumothorax

John G. Shutack D.O.1, Marcia J. Wagaman M.D.1, Ara S. Moomjian M.D.1, Ronald D. Eavey M.D.1, Thomas H. Shaffer Ph.D.1, and William W. Fox M.D.1

1 Division of Neonatology of The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and the Department of Physiology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia

A new closed-system device for the diagnosis and treatment of pneumothorax was evaluated in ten New Zealand white rabbits and compared with an open-system needle. The closed-system device proved to be safe for diagnostic thoracentesis. There were no pneumothoraces as a result of the procedure with the closed-system device as confirmed by chest roentgenograms and pleural pressure measurements. In contrast, 70% of the diagnostic thoracenteses with the open-system needle were associated with pneumothorax documented by x-ray films and a significant increase in mean pleural pressure. The new apparatus was more efficacious for evacuation of pneumothoraces because complete air removal occurred in 90% of the rabbits as compared with 60% of trials with the open-system needle. If the efficacy of the new closed-system device proves to be good in human infants, the pediatrician encountering a tension pneumothorax in the newborn can use a completely assembled system that is safe for diagnosing and treating this acute life-threatening condition.

Submitted on August 17, 1978
Accepted on November 6, 1978