I've seen this plenty in my NICU babies, but know nothing about adolescents, so thought I'd bounce this off you experts.
My friend's son (a healthy, active 16 year old), woke up one morning with cyanosis of the hands and c/o chest pain. His parents took him to the ER where they were told that he had a small pneumothorax. The ER doc explained that small holes in the alveoli can be caused by rapid growth, and are not uncommon during growth spurts, especially in lanky boys, which he is. (I didn't know that.)
The doc explained that he needed to needle aspirate the boy's chest (OK I get that). The kid freaked out when the needle aspiration was attempted without local or sedation. (Why no local or sedation?) The doc then told the parents that they would have been able to take their son home post-procedure if he hadn't been so dramatic, but because of the sedation which the doc thought unnecessary, he was kept overnight.
Are needle aspirations routinely done inthis manner? It sounds barbaric to me. I certainly would have insisted on a local and sedation for such a procedure.
