Re-Expansion Pulmonary Edema in Children - A Rare Complication After Pneumothorax Drainage: A Case Report

Abstract

Abate Yeshidinber Weldetsadik,1 Abayneh Girma Demisse2 1St Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Pediatric Respiratory and Intensive Care Division, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; 2St Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Addis Ababa, EthiopiaCorrespondence: Abate Yeshidinber Weldetsadik, St Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, Email [email protected]: Re-expansion Pulmonary Edema (RPE) is a non-cardiogenic form of pulmonary edema which occurs following rapid lung expansion after drainage of significant pneumothorax or pleural effusion, and rarely following resection of obstructive mediastinal mass. RPE is a rare but potentially fatal phenomenon with only few case reports in the pediatric literature.Methods: We are reporting a case of RPE in a 5-year-old girl following drainage of pneumothorax who succumbed to worsening hypoxemia despite therapy with mechanical ventilation and other supportive care.Conclusion: RPE should be anticipated, and early preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic measures should be instituted in high-risk patients who require significant pleural fluid or air drainage.Keywords: pulmonary edema, re-expansion, pneumothorax, pleural effusion, chest tube, Ethiopia

Keywords

• pulmonary edema
• re-expansion
• pneumothorax
• pleural effusion
• chest tube
• ethiopia