Assessment of spontaneous pneumomediastinum: experience with 12 patients

Background The aim of this study is to report a series of spontaneous pneumomediastinum in a population of young, tall, and thin patients with a history of thoracic hyper pressure, and to analyze the assessment required in such patients. Methods A retrospective study of an unicentric series and a review of the literature from 1980 to 2002 were performed. Results Between December 1996 and January 2002, 12 patients (mean age, 25 years old; mean height, 172 cm; and mean weight, 63 kg) were admitted with spontaneous pneumomediastinum. In all patients, high intrathoracic pressure by cough or acute effort was the precipitating factor. Most frequent complaints were acute chest pain, asthenia, and subcutaneous emphysema. The following assessment was performed: chest roentgenogram in 12 of 12 patients (12/12); computer tomography (CT) scan in 8/12; bronchoscopy in 7/12; esophagoscopy in 6/12; esophagography in 2/12. Outcome was always uneventful without any recurrence. Hospital stay ranged from 0 to 6 days. The Medline research revealed that articles consist mainly of case reports. Two articles only report a multicentric series of 25 and 36 cases, respectively. No organ perforation was found either in our series or in our review of the literature. Conclusions Spontaneous pneumomediastinum follows alveolar rupture in the pulmonary interstitium. The dissection of gas towards the hilum and mediastinum is produced by an episode of acute high intrathoracic pressure. It affects mostly young people, and this is the case in our series. Endoscopic thoracic assessment may be risky and is not always necessary. Chest CT or esophageal contrast study should be performed in case of diagnostic doubt of esophageal perforation.