MILAN (ITALPRESS) – The thorax is a fundamental part of the human body, located between the neck and abdomen. It is composed of a bony and muscular structure that protects vital organs such as the lungs and heart, and plays a central role in respiratory and circulatory processes. Diseases that can affect the chest are varied and range from relatively common problems such as bronchitis, to potentially fatal conditions such as pulmonary embolism, pneumothorax, heart attack, or organ cancer. Early diagnosis is crucial, as always, to improve the outcome of the majority of chest diseases. These are some of the topics discussed by Alberto Testori, a specialist in general surgery and current section chief of thoracic surgery at the Humanitas Clinical Institute in Rozzano, interviewed by Marco Klinger, for Medicina Top, a TV format of the Italpress news agency. “A coercive cough or shortness of breath can also lead to other pathologies besides classic bronchitis or pneumonia,” he began, “For example, it could be a pleural effusion. Depending on the patient’s own respiratory function, it may also take some time for the patient to notice that there is a shortness of breath.” Among the main pathologies we find pneumothorax: “This is a collapse of the lung parenchyma, which is like an inner tube that deflates, this is due to the rupture of a bubble,” he explained. “The lung retracts and the patient is drained to make the lung parenchyma expand again. In other cases, the air leak is so great that the mediastinum is moved to the other side and you can go into cardiovascular arrest.” “The routine examination is the chest x-ray,” Testori stressed, “The next step is the CT scan, depending on what you feel you can also proceed with more specific examinations. Additional pathologies related to the chest area are reviewed: “Those who are affected by pulmonary emphysema in 90 percent of cases are smokers,” the professor recalled, “It is a pathology that is sometimes aggravating, and in heavy smokers there is an inauspicious evolution. One goes from not having a bit of breath under exertion to having to resort to oxygen or even go as far as lung transplantation,” he added. “Lack of breath, and not necessarily under exertion, is an early marker of possible pulmonary emphysema. Respiratory physiotherapy can be helpful because in a way it doesn’t make it worse. More or less the incidence has remained the same,” he pointed out, “Indeed, the trend should be decreasing because in recent years there are fewer smokers. Underlying this disease may also be a genetic history; there are pulmonary emphysemas that arise on a genetic deficit.” Finally, a look at some less serious diseases, but with important implications in the social sphere, related to the thoracic area: “There is hyperhidrosis, which is excess sweating that affects especially young people, it manifests itself with a lot of sweat at the axillary level and in the palms of the hands, this affects social life,” acknowledged Testori. “To intervene, we access the sympathetic nerve and interrupt the nerve tract responsible for the area where you sweat. Finally, there are chest malformations, such as hollow chest, which can lead to relationship problems,” he concluded, “It can bring shame in the sufferer, so much so that they do not want to put on a costume in front of everyone.
– photo taken from Top Medicine video -(ITALPRESS).
