I had a pt last night who was s/p bilobectomy (RML and RUL) and while he wasn't a difficult patient I do have a question. He had very audible breath sounds on his R side!! The base was decreased. Anyway, if there's no lung tissue, why do I hear aeration? Of course it wasn't pneumonectomy...maybe therein lies the answer?
I'm just a pre-nursing student, but I have read that patients who have undergone pneumonectomy sometimes display adventitious lung sounds from the remaining lung, which are audible on the pneumonectomy side.
zacarias, ASN, RN
1,338 Posts
Hey all,
I had a pt last night who was s/p bilobectomy (RML and RUL) and while he wasn't a difficult patient I do have a question. He had very audible breath sounds on his R side!! The base was decreased. Anyway, if there's no lung tissue, why do I hear aeration? Of course it wasn't pneumonectomy...maybe therein lies the answer?