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Updated: Sep 24, 2025
Lung CT Segmentation to Identify Consolidations and Ground Glass Areas for Quantitative Assesment of SARS-CoV Pneumonia
Published on: December 19, 2020
A case report, bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax as a late complication for SARS CoV-2 infection
Miguel Angel Plata-Corona1,2, Mayra Alejandra López-Aguilar3, Juan Manuel Ibarra-Hernández4
1General Surgery Department, Specialty Hospital National Medical Center "La Raza" Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social, Azcapotzalco s/n, La Raza, Azcapotzalco, Ciudad de México, C.P. 02990, México.
Abstract:
The beta-coronavirus discovered in Wuhan in 2019 (COVID-19) provokes a series of affections from mild symptoms to life-threatening complications. There is evidence that associates the disease to spontaneous pneumothorax, however, the mechanism is unknown. The patient was a 45-year-old male with previous pneumonia due to COVID-19 who was attended the emergency department, where chest radiography was taken, confirming the diagnosis of right pneumothorax. However, the patient developed a new episode of pleuritic pain three days later, and a new radiograph showed left pneumothorax requiring a new chest tube. The simple tomography shows intraparenchymal bullae in the apical region of both lungs. The patient was kept under observation, and when improving, both endopleural chest drains were removed, and the patient was discharged. Spontaneous bilateral pneumothorax is a rare and potentially life-threatening complication. Identifying pulmonary bullae in patients with COVID-19 could be an early sign for these patients to develop spontaneous pneumothorax.
