Physician Assistant Solves a Thoracic Surgery Challenge

August 6, 2026 | 1 min. read

Ladi Odunewu, MMS, PA-C, lead advanced practice provider at Canning Thoracic Institute, saw a possible solution to a thoracic surgery challenge in a tool he already knew well.

Before his current role, Odunewu worked as a respiratory therapist at Northwestern Medicine where he became familiar with heliox, a mixture of helium and oxygen that is typically used for patients with breathing difficulties. Helium is easy to detect, which makes it useful for identifying leaks.

Odunewu believed the same concept could help patients following thoracic surgery. He recommended having the patient breathe heliox, then testing whether helium appears in the chest tube. If helium is detected, it suggests air is moving from the lung into the chest tube, pointing to a true air leak. If helium is not detected, the team may be seeing the normal space left after surgery rather than an active leak.

Ankit Bharat, MD, chief clinical officer, thoracic, says Odunewu’s innovation has helped the team remove chest tubes in a more scientific way.
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“The helium is already in the patient, so attaching a sampling port to detect if it is leaking gives us a better way to decide when a chest tube can be removed,” Dr. Bharat says. “His idea was transformative and makes so much sense.”

How it works

After clinicians remove part of a patient’s lung in surgery, they monitor the chest tube to help determine how the lung is healing. If air continues to move through the tube, it may mean there is an air leak from the lung, most likely along the staple line before the tissue has fully sealed.

But that is not always the case. Removing part of a lung can leave space in the chest where the lung tissue used to be. Sometimes, that space can make it difficult to tell whether the chest tube is showing an active air leak or simply reflecting the normal changes that happen after surgery.

If the team cannot tell where the air is coming from, patients may need to stay in the hospital longer with a chest tube in place. Chest tubes can cause significant pain, which can lead to more pain medication, delayed recovery and a longer hospital stay.

​Teamwork leads to better patient care

​Odunewu says the team began using the approach last year after obtaining a helium analyzer. He then adapted the process so the team could test for helium without changing how the chest tube drains fluid and air.

In some cases, the test helped show that a patient did not have a true air leak, allowing the care team to remove the chest tube and discharge the patient sooner than expected.
For Odunewu, the work reflects what can happen when team members bring different clinical experiences to patient care.

“Thinking outside the box and using technology and innovations we already have can help solve a new problem,” Odunewu says. “That can translate to patients going home earlier and experiencing less pain overall.”