A 20-year-old nulliparous woman presented to our obstetric unit in spontaneous labour at 39+1 weeks gestation following an uncomplicated pregnancy. After a short she progressed vaginal delivery of live male infant. Immediately after experienced retrosternal chest pain, facial swelling and dyspnoea. On examination her was clear auscultation, but extensive subcutaneous emphysema noted over the ch...

Air leak syndrome includes pulmonary interstitial emphysema, pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum, pneumopericardium, pneumoperitoneum, subcutaneous emphysema, and systemic air embolism. The most common cause of air leak syndrome in neonates is inadequate mechanical ventilation of the fragile and immature lungs. The incidence of air leaks in newborns is inversely related to the birth weight of the i...

Received 6/6/2004; revised 7/12/2004; accepted 7/16/2004. For correspondence and reprints contact: Shiou-Chi Cherng, M.D., Department of Nuclear Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, 325 Section 2, Cheng-Kung Road, Neihu, Taipei 114, Taiwan. Tel: (886)2-87927374, Fax: (886)2-87927217, E-mail: [email protected] A patient with non-small cell carcinoma of the lung underwent twice-right lobectomi...

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is an uncommon event, the clinical picture of which includes retrosternal chest pain, subcutaneous emphysema, dyspnea, and dysphonia. The pathophysiological mechanism involved is the emergence of a pressure gradient between the alveoli and surrounding structures, causing alveolar rupture with subsequent dissection of the peribronchovascular sheath and infiltration ...

A 13-month-old girl who had no medical history uneventfully underwent patch closure of an atrial septal defect under mild hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass. An immediately postoperative chest radiograph did not show any unusual findings (the Figure, A), and the process of weaning her from the ventilator was started. Just before extubation (6 hours after transfer to the intensive care unit), a ...

Air-leak syndromes include pneumomediastinum, pneumothorax, pneumopericardium, pneumoperitoneum, pulmonary interstitial emphysema and subcutaneous emphysema. Pneumothorax and pneumomediastinum occur in 1 to 2% of normal neonates and they usually has no symptoms and resolves spontaneously. Here we report sudden fatal pneumomediastinum accompanied with pneumopericardium and pneumoperitoneum in no...

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is a rare clinical entity defined as the presence of free air in the mediastinal structures without an apparent cause such as trauma. Spontaneous pneumomediastinum is rare in children and most frequently occurs in young male patients. It usually develops after alveolar rupture and air penetration into the pulmonary interstice, followed by air penetration towards th...