Tension Pneumothorax Developed during General Anesthesia

Kyeoung A Yang, Jong Hak Kim, Chi Hyo Kim, Choon Hi Lee

Copyright ⓒ 1997. Ewha Womans University School of Medicine. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published Online: Jul 24, 2015

Abstract

Pneumothorax can occur during general anesthesia by various mechanism.

Because tension pneumothorax may be manifested by unexplained hypotension or wheezing during anesthesia, prompt diagnosis of the complication is often difficult.

The incidence of iatrogenic pneumothorax seems to ve increasing, for the procedure associated with pneumothorax such as internal jugular or subclavian venipuncture, intercostal or interscalene nerve blocks, laparoscopy, operator should be prepated to treat this potential complication without delay.

We presented one case of tension pneumothorax developed during general anesthesia perhaps resulting from inadvertent lung injury during internal jugular vein puncture.

Keywords: Tension pneumothorax; General anesthesia