Tension Pneumothorax Requiring Video‐Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery With Multimodal Pleurodesis: An Unexpected Ramification of a Ground Level Fall Without Significant Blunt or Penetrating Injury

TL;DR

A healthy patient developed a severe lung condition after a minor fall, requiring surgery to correct.

Contribution

Demonstrates that tension pneumothorax can occur from minor trauma in healthy individuals.

Findings

Tension pneumothorax can result from a ground-level fall with mild thoracic trauma.

Persistent air leak from apical blebs was surgically corrected in the patient.

Initial asthma symptoms were misattributed before diagnosis of pneumothorax.

Abstract

Tension pneumothorax is characterised by progressive air accumulation in the pleural space leading to increasing intrathoracic pressure and haemodynamic instability. Pneumothorax is generally observed following blunt or penetrating trauma, though spontaneous pneumothorax can also occur in patients with risk factors. This case highlights the potential for severe complications in an otherwise healthy patient with tension pneumothorax resulting from a ground‐level fall onto an absorbent soft surface with mild indirect thoracic trauma. Initial respiratory status coupled with asthma history was worrisome for asthma exacerbation; however, imaging confirmed tension pneumothorax, later complicated by persistent air leak associated with apical blebs, corrected surgically.

This case highlights the potential for severe complications in an otherwise healthy patient with tension pneumothorax resulting from a ground‐level fall onto an absorbent soft surface with mild indirect thoracic trauma. Initial respiratory status, coupled with asthma history, was worrisome for asthma exacerbation; however, imaging confirmed tension pneumothorax, later complicated by a persistent air leak associated with apical blebs, corrected surgically.

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