What The Hell Does This Mean

So I was bored so I decided to look at my past medical test results.  They recently added some records that went back earlier then 2004, which is what they had before.  And I came across this:

CHEST, 1 VIEW

Radiologist 1: GOSSELIN, MARC V. PORTABLE CHEST: 10/28/2002 Dictated 10/29/2002 COMPARISON: 10/24. INDICATION: Line placement. Respiratory distress. Assess location. FINDINGS: Right internal jugular central venous catheter has its tip overlying the mid superior vena cava region. No pneumothorax or mediastinal widening is present. Cardiac silhouette is normal. Osseous structures are unremarkable. IMPRESSION: Right internal jugular central line placed without evidence for acute complication.

This seems to have been done during or right after my first WLS.  Line placement?  Respiratory distress?  This is the first I have ever heard about any of this?  This is almost 9 years ago and I don't remember hearing about any kind of problems during my surgery.  Maybe I am senile and I am just forgeting but I would think I would remember something like that.  Maybe it was some kind of mild episode.  You would think if they had placed a line in my chest I would have known about it.  Maybe I blocked it?  All I remember about that day is waking up in my room and my daughter was there and she was very upset because she couldn't find out anything about me and thought something had happened to me.  I had a lap surgery and I thought it was pretty routine, at least that is what I remember.  Is this some kind of common thing that isn't important enough to mention?

Not medical here but maybe take it with you next week when you talk to the surgeon and ask him to explain the report. Probably unremarkable since it wasn't mentioned but with your luck with that surgeon's practice, who knows.

--gina

This was an X-ray to check that the central line was placed in the right spot. If you don't remember a central line, you might request your hospital discharge summary. It could also be a mistake....dictated on the wrong patient.

Some practices routinely use a central line for Lap rny.

Why on earth would any surgeon use a central line as a routine practice?  That in itself is a surgical procedure that is unneccessary. If a patient can have a regular IV, why subject them to a central line?  I would never consent to that.  I had to have one this past year when I had surgery due to complications of a perforated colon but there is absolutely no reason to use a central line for a routine lap surgery unless no IV access can be found.

Keep in mind also that these days when any xray or other study is ordered there has to be a reason given for billing purposes, and sometimes respiratory distress, or the more generic 'shortness of breath' is what is checked off, whether or not the patient is actually in distress. These types of lines are not all that uncommon in surgery patients, and were used a lot in the past before PICC lines became so common. And don't be surprised if there is no mention in the discharge summary. If it was done for routine IV access it may well not even be mentioned.

Thank you for the explanation.  I was wondering if it was something that was routinely done.  I did see my operative report and it wasn't mentioned but I have never seen a discharge report.  I was just wondering why I don't remember anything like that.

They might have places it after you were under anesthesia and removed it while you were in recovery or early in your recovery period when you were medicated. They usually xray to mke sure it is not in the lungs by mistake... If you were having a little trouble breathing in surgery or the recovery room they might hvr ordered an xray just to make sure they weren't accidentally putting fluid in your lungs with the line.

It says you were given a central line - which is an IV line into your neck when no other IV access
can be found.  This is a rare occurrance for lap surgery but if you had very bad veins then that could have been the case.  I had one last year during surgery for a perforated colon but that was a much more complicated surgery - I almost died, I was septic, had a large part of my colon removed and needed a blood transfusion.  Blood transfusions almost always have to go through a central line since they need a very large vein.