Spontaneous pneumothorax: An emerging complication of COVID-19 pneumonia

Emmanuel Ekanem; Shreya Podder; Nisha Donthi; Hooman Bakhshi; Joshua Stodghill; Sandeep Khandhar; Amit Mahajan; Mehul Desai

doi:10.1016/j.hrtlng.2021.01.020

Spontaneous pneumothorax: An emerging complication of COVID-19 pneumonia

Heart Lung. 2021 May-Jun;50(3):437-440. doi: 10.1016/j.hrtlng.2021.01.020. Epub 2021 Jan 29.

Authors

Emmanuel Ekanem¹, Shreya Podder², Nisha Donthi², Hooman Bakhshi², Joshua Stodghill³, Sandeep Khandhar³, Amit Mahajan⁴, Mehul Desai⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, Inova Health System, Heart and Vascular Institute, 3300 Gallows Rd., Falls Church, VA 22042, United States. Electronic address: [email protected].
² Department of Cardiology, Inova Health System, Heart and Vascular Institute, 3300 Gallows Rd., Falls Church, VA 22042, United States.
³ Inova Health System, Thoracic Surgery, 3300 Gallows Rd., Falls Church, VA 22042, United States.
⁴ Inova Health System, Interventional Pulmonology, 3300 Gallows Rd., Falls Church, VA 22042, United States.
⁵ Inova Health System, Critical Care Medicine, 3300 Gallows Rd., Falls Church, VA 22042, United States.

Abstract

Spontaneous Pneumothorax in the setting of coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) has been rarely described and is a potentially lethal complication. We report our institutional experience. Patients with confirmed COVID-19 who were admitted at 5 hospitals within the Inova health system between February 21 and May 2020 were included in the study. We identified 1619 patients, 22 patients (1.4%) developed spontaneous pneumothorax during their hospitalization without evidence of traumatic injury.

Keywords: COVID-19; Pneumonia; Spontaneous pneumothorax.

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Humans
Pneumothorax* / diagnosis
Pneumothorax* / etiology
SARS-CoV-2
Tomography, X-Ray Computed