Idiopathic, bilateral pneumothorax: case report in a young child

Unilateral, idiopathic pneumothorax (IP) is relatively common and occurs predominantly in males in their teens and twenties, with 85% presenting before age forty. In contrast, bilateral IP occurs rarely, with only three cases reported from 1977-87. To our knowledge, only one case of bilateral IP has been reported in the pediatric population, an adolescent male with likely recurrent disease. We present a case of a 7-year-old child with bilateral IP and discuss the diagnosis, pathophysiology, and treatment of this entity.