COVID-19 Patients with Tension Pneumothorax: Four Case Reports

Abstract

Severe acute respiratory syndrome Corona virus 2 (SARS-CoV 2) was initially identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread rapidly worldwide to become a global pandemic. Patients infected with this virus presented with fever, cough, shortness of breath, diarrhea, abdominal discomfort, and myalgia. Radiological examination of those patients revealed numerous findings like consolidation, ground glass opacity and can lead to lung collapse. Other uncommon features are presented such as pneumomediastinum, pneumothorax and lung cavity. Pneumothorax was one of the fatal complications mentioned in the literature as it increased the mortality of COVID-19 patients. We report four cases presented to the intensive care unit (ICU) with severe pneumonia complicated during the admission by pneumothorax, which mandated intervention by chest tube to stabilize the patient's condition. There were differences in age, sex, the treatment protocol used and the timing of the development of the pneumothorax. Pneumothorax should be kept in mind in patients admitted with pneumonia secondary to COVID-19, as it causes acute deterioration of the patient and needs urgent intervention.