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Article of the Week

Pigtail catheters vs. standard-size chest tubes to treat pediatric hemothorax

This multicenter study explored whether smaller pigtail catheters can be used instead of traditional chest tubes to treat traumatic hemothorax in kids. In a large group of stable pediatric patients, the authors found that pigtail catheters were as effective as standard chest tubes, with similar rates of treatment success and no difference in length of stay or survival. Importantly, this data reflects outcomes in stable children; further research is needed for unstable cases.

Click the link to view the article or watch a short AI-generated article summary (4 min 33 sec).

Goodman LF, Martino AM, Schomberg J, et al. Percutaneous pigtail catheter versus chest tube for the treatment of pediatric traumatic hemothorax: An Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma multicenter study. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2025

Trauma Happenings

Celebrating Nurses on National Nurses Week!

In honor of National Nurses Week, we are celebrating the incredible impact of nurses. Here are a few quick facts that highlight the skill, strength, and heart behind the profession:

• Nurses make up the largest segment of the healthcare workforce, with over 4 million RNs in the U.S.
• Florence Nightingale was a data pioneer, using statistics and data visualization to improve patient outcomes.
• For more than 20 years, nurses have been ranked the most trusted profession.
• Multitasking is a core nursing superpower; who else can manage 5-10+ patients, medications, documentation, family communication, and emergencies- all at once!
• Nurses are expert translators, turning complex medical jargon into understandable language for patients and families every day.
• Armored in scrubs and powered by coffee, nurses bring their best on a patient's worst day.

This week, we recognize and thank nurses for the expertise, resilience, and humanity they bring to every patient encounter.

Farty Pants, Smarty Pants

Smartwatches, smart cars... smart underwear? It’s the latest thing in wearable monitoring devices! Using a tiny sensor embedded in the underwear, this new device can detect hydrogen in flatus and send a signal to an app 24/7. 

WHY, you ask? The goal is to track gut microbiome activity, which, if you’ve been paying any attention to science or celebrity hype lately, is turning out to be a big deal. Surprisingly (or not), research on flatus is very limited. It’s not really a topic anyone but an 8-year-old boy would consider interesting as a career choice.

Currently, the fart detector is considered a "wearable" rather than a "medical device." But who knows, it could be coming to a hospital bed near you soon. What if this gizmo could detect C. difficile, GI bleeding, colorectal cancer, or other serious diseases in their earliest stages?

Check out this short Medscape article for more information. Sadly, no images of the device are included.

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