Presentation
Left chest pain, atraumatic. History of prior spontaneous pneumothorax.
Patient Data
Large left pneumothorax with passive atelectasis left lung.
Confirms large left pneumothorax and passive atelectasis left lung. Small amount of subcutaneous emphysema left chest wall. No rib fracture, no right pneumothorax.
Case Discussion
Catamenial pneumothorax should be considered in a young woman with multiple spontaneous pneumothoraces.
This case nicely illustrates what the chest wall and lung "want" to do and will do if the pleural seal that keeps them in contact with one another is broken. The chest wall will expand, best seen on the soft tissue coronal images: note the increased size of the intercostal spaces on the affected left side. The lung will collapse or deflate i.e. become atelectatic, best seen on the lung window coronal images.
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