Thoracoscopic treatment of a neonatal traumatic pneumatocele

Traumatic pneumatoceles appear rarely after pulmonary parenchymal or bronchial disruption. Treatment is usually expectant with intervention reserved for complications, such as infection, expansion, or cardiopulmonary deterioration. A 17-day-old female was transferred to our NICU with a left-sided pneumatocele resulting from an intraparenchymal chest tube insertion. She was born at 30 weeks gestation and required a chest tube insertion for severe hydrops fetalis with respiratory failure and associated chylothoraces. An acute deterioration following several weeks of clinical improvement was unsuccessfully treated with radiologically guided drainage. In this paper, we describe the thoracoscopic management of this case.