Diagnostics (Jul 2023)

Sequence of Rare Diagnoses in a Young Patient: Altitude Barotrauma Hemopneumothorax and Desquamative Interstitial Pneumonia

  • Iustina Leonte,
  • Karina Ivanov,
  • Angela Ștefania Marghescu,
  • Șerban Radu Matache,
  • Florica Valeria Negru,
  • Ana Luiza Iorga,
  • Silviu Mihail Dumitru,
  • Beatrice Mahler

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13142367
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 14
p. 2367

Abstract

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We present the case of a 35-year-old patient without pathological history who developed hemopneumothorax due to altitude barotrauma during a commercial airline flight. The computed tomography (CT) of the chest identified the presence of right hydropneumothorax and emphysema “blebs” and bubbles. After the therapeutic insertion of a drain tube, the patient returned to the country by land transport. Three weeks later, he was diagnosed with right-sided pleurisy based on a CT scan with contrast material. A surgical intervention was then performed, and three biopsy samples were taken; the histopathological result highlighted suggestive elements for the diagnosis of desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP).

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