Season 22 Episode 3

Between Two Lungs

Between Two Lungs has been upgraded with source-backed medical case pages for Ryan's living-donor lobar lung transplant, Vivek's donor infection deferral, Katie's splenic trauma with gastric cancer restaging, and Ray's burn graft hematoma.

Air date: Oct 23, 2025

Explore 4 medical cases

diagnostic realism

4.0/5

overall

4.1/5

procedure realism

4.0/5

workflow realism

4.2/5

Medical Cases in This Episode

These are the patient stories worth unpacking. Open any case for the real-world medicine, what the episode shows, what it leaves out, and source-backed context.

4 cases identified

Case 1

Ryan Delgadillo: Bronchiolitis Obliterans, ECMO, and Living-Donor Lobar Lung Transplant

Ryan's transplant case turns a planned two-donor lobar lung transplant into a high-stakes single-donor rescue after one parent is ruled out for infection risk.

Episode shows: Ryan Delgadillo is six years old and has bronchiolitis obliterans. The episode says he has been on ECMO for four weeks and is scheduled to receive lung lobes from both dads, Stephen and Vivek. When Vivek develops fever and a borderline white count, Winston and...
Clinical takeaway: The case is about pediatric end-stage lung disease, ECMO as a bridge, living donor safety, lung-size matching, and intraoperative contingency planning.

Accuracy 4.0/5lung-transplantecmobronchiolitis-obliterans

Case 2

Vivek Delgadillo: Fever and Sinus Infection Blocking Living Lung Donation

Vivek is willing to donate a lung lobe to Ryan, but fever, borderline white count, and a sinus infection make him unsafe as a donor that day.

Episode shows: Vivek enters the episode as one of Ryan's two planned living lung donors. Just before surgery, the team learns he has a fever and borderline white blood cell count. The wiki medical notes state that he is later found to have a sinus infection, and the operatio...
Clinical takeaway: The case highlights donor safety and recipient safety. Living donation is never just a heroic gift; the donor is also a patient whose risks must be controlled.

Accuracy 4.1/5living-donorinfection-screeningsinus-infection

Case 3

Katie Rogers: Splenic Bleeding After Crash and Gastric Cancer Restaging

Katie's car-crash trauma reveals splenic bleeding requiring surgery, while intraoperative liver lesions raise concern that her gastric cancer has spread.

Episode shows: Katie is 27 and has known stage II gastric cancer. After a car crash, she worries about missing chemotherapy, but Bailey and Lucas find abdominal free fluid on ultrasound. CT shows bleeding in the spleen, Bailey takes her to surgery for splenectomy, and Lucas...
Clinical takeaway: The case shows how acute trauma can outrank scheduled cancer treatment, while unexpected findings can change oncology staging and prognosis.

Accuracy 4.0/5splenic-injurygastric-cancertrauma

Case 4

Ray Lee: Burn Skin Graft Hematoma and NPO Delay

Ray's burn graft appears to be healing until a hematoma develops, and a lifted NPO order delays the surgery needed to address it.

Episode shows: Ray is a 35-year-old camping-injury patient with partial-thickness arm burns that have been debrided and grafted. Kavita first says he is healing well, then later finds a hematoma requiring surgery. Benson had lifted Ray's NPO order, so after Ray eats lunch th...
Clinical takeaway: The case is a compact workflow story: skin graft complications, anticoagulant context, fasting status, resident communication, and anesthesia timing all affect surgical care.

Accuracy 3.9/5burnsskin-grafthematoma

About the Episode

A high-risk lung transplant pushes the team to their limits.

Medical Relevance

A full clinical context review has not been generated for this episode yet.