Scrotal swelling after penetrating chest trauma

Pneumoscrotum: Value as an early diagnostic sign of tension pneumothorax in blunt thoracic trauma

Pneumoscrotum is a rare complication that can result from various etiologies and can be essential in the diagnosis of those causative factors, especially life-threatening ones such as infection or trauma. We present here a case of a patient who presented in posttraumatic cardiac arrest and an extensive, grossly obvious, and rapidly expanding pneumoscrotum. Based on our patient's clinical presentation and a history of a high-speed mechanism with obvious torso trauma, a diagnosis of tension pneumothorax was quickly made resulting in immediate treatment. We review the existing literature and highlight the importance of pneumoscrotum in aiding with differential diagnosis. The presence of pneumoscrotum is often benign; however, in the right clinical setting, it can be an extremely important and useful clinical tool for the early identification and timely treatment of life-threatening diagnoses, such as tension pneumothorax.

Pneumoscrotum: report of two different cases and review of the literature

Pneumoscrotum is the term used to describe the presence of air within the scrotum and includes scrotal emphysema as well as pneumatocele. The etiology varies; in some cases, pneumoscrotum may be due to life-threatening disease like pneumothorax or Fournier gangrene. Despite this, pneumoscrotum is a rarely debated issue. We present two different cases of pneumoscrotum and a review of the literature. The first case report is about a 29 year old male patient affected by Duchenne syndrome who showed pneumoscrotum after cardiopulmonary resuscitation that was performed for asphyxic crisis and cardiovascular arrest. We carried out local puncture with an 18-gauge needle, and the pneumoscrotum was successfully solved. The second case report is about a 56 year old male with pneumoscrotum due to Fournier gangrene who underwent radical exeresis of all necrotic tissues and drainage. This is why most of the scrotal skin and all of the penis skin were removed; as a result, the testicles, epididymis, and cavernosa corpora were externalized. On postoperative day one, the patient was feverless and underwent hyperbaric chamber therapy. No postoperative complications occurred. Accurate evaluation of the pneumoscrotum is always needed. Despite the benign course of most of the clinically evident pneumoscrotum cases, this condition should never be underestimated.

Aeromedical evacuations from an east Arnhem Land community 2003?2005: The impact on a primary health care centre

OBJECTIVE

To understand the profile and impact of aeromedical evacuations in remote Indigenous communities.

DESIGN

Descriptive study.

SETTING

A primary health care centre in east Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia.

PARTICIPANTS

Four hundred and ten evacuations from a total population of more than 2200 were analysed from February 2003 to August 2005.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

Patient demographics, seasonal variations, diagnostic categories, utilisation of staff resources.

RESULTS

On average 6.5% of the community were evacuated to hospital every year with an evacuation occurring every 2.2 days. Children aged under five years were 3.3-fold overrepresented in evacuations (comprising 37.7% of those evacuated versus 11.3% of the community, P < 0.001). Four diagnostic categories accounted for 61% of evacuations: respiratory disease (21%), obstetric conditions (15%), gastroenteritis (14%) and injury/poisoning (11%). Over the study period four patients required intubation at the clinic. Evacuation rates were higher in the monsoon season. Forty-seven per cent of evacuations occurred after hours. The waiting time for plane arrival ranged from one hour to 21 hours with a median wait-time of three hours.

CONCLUSION

Aeromedical evacuations place a heavy burden on primary health centres. Clinic staff are regularly required to provide hospital-level acute care, often for several hours at a time. Meeting this burden competes with primary prevention programs and regular clinic duties. The age and diagnostic profiles encountered in this study have significant implications for the range of skills required to provide an adequate acute care service. This study highlights the need for remote area health centres to be well resourced to meet these needs.