Spontaneous pneumothorax in COVID-19 patients: stage of illness does not matter

Abstract

The number of COVID-19 cases only seem to be soaring. As clinicians are making more progress in understanding this new disease, new complications associated with the disease are catching attention. We present five cases of spontaneous pneumothorax in patients with COVID-19. These cases reveal that a pneumothorax can develop at any phase of the disease, and in patients without any contributing history and/or association with mechanical ventilation due to COVID-19. One plausible explanation is bulla formation resulting to pneumothorax. Clinicians treating COVID-19 must be aware of this complication, which could emerge at any stage of the disease, and misinterpreting this dyspnea as progression of ARDS, could prove fatal to the patient. Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA.