I also found this interesting abstract off the internet from the Radiological Society of North America. We need to remember that the biopsy needles are small compared to a torn lung . . . Dutch
CODE: SSQ05-02
SESSION: Chest (Intervention)
Assessing the Safety of Air Travel Following Lung Biopsy: Interim Analysis
DATE: Thursday, December 04 2008
START TIME: 10:40 AM
END TIME: 10:50 AM
PURPOSE
To report our interim analysis of patients who have traveled by air following lung biopsy.
METHOD AND MATERIALS
IRB approval was granted for this prospective, observational study. Between September 2007 and March 2008, 62 consecutive patients underwent transthoracic lung biopsy followed by air travel. All patients completed a survey questionnaire by telephone within 7-10 business days of their travel date. Questions were designed to determine if patients encountered problems during their flight. Medical records and pertinent imaging studies were also reviewed.
RESULTS
The pneumothorax rate was 34% (21/62) with five of these patients requiring chest tube placement for management. For all patients, the average time following the last chest x-ray obtained after lung biopsy to air travel was 75 hours. For the patients with pneumothorax, the average time following the last chest x-ray obtained after lung biopsy to air travel was 82 hours. It was possible to quantify the size of the pneumothorax on the last chest x-ray obtained before air travel in 81% (17/21) of the patients with pneumothorax. The size of the pneumothorax ranged from <0.5-22%. None of the patients reported any medical events which required emergent in-flight medical attention or flight diversion. All patients felt safe to fly.
CONCLUSION
Most medical guidelines recommend deferring air travel for several weeks following pneumothorax resolution documented by imaging. Our practice has been to allow our post-lung biopsy patients to travel by air following a 24 hour post-biopsy wait period if there were no complications or if there was a small, stable pneumothorax. This preliminary analysis of our results indicates that none of our lung biopsy patients, including those with a small, stable pneumothorax, experienced significant, adverse medical events during air travel.
CLINICAL RELEVANCE/APPLICATION
This study evaluates patients who travel by air following lung biopsy in an attempt to better define a guideline for when it is safe to fly after having sustained a pneumothorax.
QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS EVENT EMAIL:
alda.tam@di.mdacc.tmc.edu