COVID-19 and Pneumothorax

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Pneumothorax has been reported in a small number of patients COVID-19, though the significance and frequency of this association remains unclear. Retrospective studies of patients with COVID-19 suggested that pneumothorax might occur in 1% of those requiring hospital admission, 2% in patients requiring Intensive Care Unit (ICU) admission and 1% of patients dying from the infection. More recently, the rate of barotrauma, comprising both pneumothorax and pneumomediastinums in ventilated patients has been reported as 15% [4]. The current literature consists primarily of single case reports, with the largest published series comprising three patients who died with COVID-19 and pneumomediastinum, two of whom also had pneumothorax . Pneumomediastinum has also been described as a complication of COVID-19, both in patients breathing spontaneously and as a consequence of invasive positive pressure ventilation.

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