[Intrathoracic drainage of a compressive pulmonary bulla in a patient receiving mechanical ventilation]

A lung suppuration may result in a lung bulla with its own course. We report such a case following a Pseudomonas aeruginosa pneumonia of the upper right lobe, after aspiration of gastric contents, in a 21-year-old tracheotomized patient in chronic post-traumatic coma. Mechanical ventilation (IPPV) was indicated because of respiratory insufficiency. The pneumonia was followed by an abscess and later a lung bulla, increasing in size under the effect of mechanical ventilation with progressive mediastinal compression. Surgery was contraindicated because of poor physical status. An acute episode of cardiac tamponade was controlled with an emergency transthoracic drain insertion into the bulla. The course was favourable after a drainage for 23 days and a persisting small cavity in the lung apex. All weaning attempts being unsuccessful, the patient was discharged under home mechanical ventilation. A CT-scan control 6 months later showed a normal lung parenchyma. The various alternative techniques to surgery for treatment of a lung bulla are discussed.