Bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax in a patient with longstanding ankylosing spondylitis.

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic inflammatory disease and pulmonary involvement is usually asympto matic in the early disease. Pneumothorax is defined as accumulation of air or gas in the pleural cavity. Spontaneous pneumothoraces (SP), which occur in the absence of thoracic trauma, are classified as primary (without underlying pulmonary disease) or secondary (with underlying pulmonary disease). Spontaneous pneumothoraces in AS are seldom rare. We herein report a male patient with longstanding AS who developed spontaneous pneumothorax which resolved without intervention.