Tension pneumothorax in patient with COVID-19 infection

Abstract

Corona-virus infection that arose from china is now a global pandemic. It presents with a variety of pulmonary manifestations, most commonly in the form of ground glass pulmonary lesions and opacities. Less common manifestation such as pnuemothorax has been reported by some authors. In this study we report a 56 years old man with Corona-virus disease presenting with tension pneumothorax, a rare and life-threatening complication of Corona-virus infection that has not been reported previously. In our case, after insertion of thoracostomy tube, the patient's symptoms improved. After about one year of Corona-virus pandemy, it still presents with some rare pulmonary and extra-pulmonary manifestations, so, familiarity with these manifestations is important for a correct diagnosis and treatment.

Spontaneous tension pneumothorax as a complication of Coronavirus disease 2019: Case report and literature review

“…However, there are multiple reports of patients with only an acute respiratory insult due to COVID‐19 infection, who developed STP without any other risk factors. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 24 It is imperative to identify the signs and symptoms of STP, especially in the setting of an ongoing respiratory infection, as sometimes the clinical features can overlap and may cause diagnostic and management delays. Clinical features of STP range from common findings such as dyspnea, chest pain, tachycardia to rare features such as cyanosis, epigastric pain, and unconsciousness.…”

“… 4 Multiple cases of COVID‐19 infection complicated with the development of STP have been reported till date. 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 This emerging complication of COVID‐19 infection seems to have significant mortality. In addition, the diagnosis can be challenging given that COVID‐19 infection may mask the symptoms of STP, as both may have similar symptomatology.…”

Diagnosis of spontaneous secondary tension pneumothorax following apparent recovery from coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonitis: a case report

“…Vahidirad et al . describe a similar case where a patient was admitted with COVID-19 pneumonitis and went on to develop tension pneumothorax 20 days after onset of symptoms [ 7 ]. This patient received a different treatment regime during their 5-day hospital admission, including azithromycin, lopinavir/ritonavir (KALETRA), and low-dose dexamethasone.…”

Pneumothorax due to COVID-19: Analysis of case reports

“…1 ). Articles and case descriptions with as much information as possible were selected for analysis; therefore, not all case studies were selected [ [2] , [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] , [14] , [15] , [16] , [17] , [18] , [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] , [45] , [46] , [47] , [48] , [49] , [50] , [51] , [52] , [53] , [54] , [55] , [56] , [57] , [58] , [59] , [60] , [61] , [62] , [63] , [64] , [65] , [66] , [67] ...…”