PNEUMOTHORAX

What is it?

A pneumothorax is sometimes called a collapsed lung.

The lungs are basically bags of air inside the chest with the outside of the lung well fitting snugly inside the jacket formed by the inside of the chest well.

Sometimes, for no obvious reason, the lung or part of the lung collapses, leaving a gap between the lung well and the chest well.

Who gets it?

Pneumothorax often happens for no obvious reason at all. You may be more likely to get one if you have asthma or emphysema. You are also at slightly higher than average risk if you are a tall, thin young man, or if you have had tuberculosis.

How will I recognise it?

A pneumothorax may make you severely ill or only slightly short of breath, depending on how much of your lung collapses.

You should look out for sudden sharp pain in one side of the chest, made worse by taking a big breath or by twisting, especially if you feel short of breath at the same time.

If the pneumothorax is a bad one, you may find yourself getting more and more breathless once the pain starts.

A smaller one will just make you breathless when you move about.

What should I do about it?

If the pain is severe and you find yourself getting very breathless with it, you should see a doctor immediately - this may mean going straight to your GP's surgery, calling your GP out or going to casualty. Even if the pain and breathlessness are quite mild, you should get yourself checked out by your GP as soon as he or she is available in surgery.

What is the treatment?

In the short-term, your doctor will want to do a chest X-ray to make sure you do have a pneumothorax. If it is big enough, you will probably have to be admitted to hospital for a chest drain. A small cut is made in the chest wall using local anaesthetic, and a tube is fed through into the space left by the collapsed lung. As the air in this space is gradually sucked out, your lung will inflate again. How long you will have to stay in hospital will depend on how quickly the lung re-inflates, but it will probably be for several days.

What can be done to stop it?

If you have had more than one pneumothorax, your doctors at the hospital may advise you to have the lung wall and chest wall 'stuck' together to stop the lung from collapsing again.

This is usually done by putting a liquid into the gap between the lung end the chest well.

This irritates the tissues and makes scar tissue, which sticks the two sides together. Although the irritation caused by this can be quite painful for a little while afterwards, it is a very good way of curing the problem.

What can I do to stop it?

It is important to stop smoking. This is obviously good for your health in general and particularly for your lungs. It may help prevent further trouble.