Pneumothorax in a COVID-19 Pneumonia Patient without Underlying Risk Factors
Takafumi Yamaya, Tomohisa Baba, Eri Hagiwara, Satoshi Ikeda, Takashi Niwa, Takaaki Kitayama, Kota Murohashi, Katsuyuki Higa, Yozo Sato, Takashi Ogura
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been recognized as a worldwide pandemic. However, the clinical course of COVID-19 remains poorly characterized. Although some cases of pneumothorax have been reported, they all had pulmonary complications or were managed with mechanical ventilation. We herein report a case of pneumothorax that developed even though the patient had no pulmonary underlying diseases and had never been managed with mechanical ventilation. In the present case, a lung bulla was found on chest computed tomography during treatment for COVID-19. We concluded that COVID-19 affected the formation of the lung bulla and induced the complication of pneumothorax.