Sequence of Rare Diagnoses in a Young Patient: Altitude Barotrauma Hemopneumothorax and Desquamative Interstitial Pneumonia

Iustina Leonte; Karina Ivanov; Angela Ștefania Marghescu; Șerban Radu Matache; Florica Valeria Negru; Ana Luiza Iorga; Silviu Mihail Dumitru; Beatrice Mahler

doi:10.3390/diagnostics13142367

Sequence of Rare Diagnoses in a Young Patient: Altitude Barotrauma Hemopneumothorax and Desquamative Interstitial Pneumonia

Diagnostics (Basel). 2023 Jul 14;13(14):2367. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics13142367.

Authors

Iustina Leonte¹, Karina Ivanov¹, Angela Ștefania Marghescu¹, Șerban Radu Matache^{1

2}, Florica Valeria Negru¹, Ana Luiza Iorga^{1

2}, Silviu Mihail Dumitru¹, Beatrice Mahler^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Pneumology "Marius Nasta", 050159 Bucharest, Romania.
² Faculty of Medicine, "Carol Davila" University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 050474 Bucharest, Romania.

Abstract

We present the case of a 35-year-old patient without pathological history who developed hemopneumothorax due to altitude barotrauma during a commercial airline flight. The computed tomography (CT) of the chest identified the presence of right hydropneumothorax and emphysema "blebs" and bubbles. After the therapeutic insertion of a drain tube, the patient returned to the country by land transport. Three weeks later, he was diagnosed with right-sided pleurisy based on a CT scan with contrast material. A surgical intervention was then performed, and three biopsy samples were taken; the histopathological result highlighted suggestive elements for the diagnosis of desquamative interstitial pneumonia (DIP).

Keywords: altitude barotrauma; desquamative interstitial pneumonia; emphysematous lesions; hemopneumothorax.

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.