El Ouali I, Habib Chorfa S, El Hamzaoui H, Alilou M, Jroundi L, Laamrani FZ. Pulmonary air leak syndrome in rheumatoid arthritis patient.
SAGE Open Med Case Rep 2022;
10:2050313X221125361. [PMID:
36147592 PMCID:
PMC9486260 DOI:
10.1177/2050313x221125361]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2022] [Accepted: 08/24/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Pulmonary air leak syndromes involve dissection of air out of the normal pulmonary
airspaces and include pulmonary interstitial emphysema, pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum,
pneumopericardium, pneumoperitoneum, subcutaneous emphysema and systemic air embolism. It
presents as a spontaneous extension of dissecting air without a history of a procedure or
penetrating injury. Pulmonary air leak syndromes are extremely rare complications of
systemic autoimmune connective tissue diseases. Few cases were reported in the literature
regarding rheumatoid arthritis patients. The purpose of this article is to emphasize on
this rare pulmonary complication and discuss the physiopathology of the disease and the
different risk factors for a better management of these patients. We report the case of a
45-year-old female, with a history of proven rheumatoid arthritis under methotrexate and
steroids, who presented with a spontaneous dissecting subcutaneous emphysema,
pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum and pneumoperitoneum. The patient’s condition improved
after chest drainage and adjustment of her medical treatment.
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