SPONTANEOUS PNEUMOTHORAX ASSOCIATED WITH MASSIVE ATELECTASIS

Abstract

Spontaneous pneumothorax in man is not uncommon. Although formerly thought of as usually associated with tuberculosis of the lungs, it is now known to occur secondary to some congenital anomaly or to nontuberculous infection of the lung in a high percentage of cases. Spontaneous pneumothorax associated with massive collapse of the lung, either postoperative or secondary to bronchial obstruction, has been infrequently observed.¹ There is as yet no definite evidence to explain the mechanism of this interesting phenomenon. The present report deals with the experimental production of spontaneous pneumothorax in 8 dogs and in 1 goat and with a clinical case of spontaneous pneumothorax associated with atelactasis. EXPERIMENTS Complete atelectasis of the right or of the left lung was produced in animals by the silver nitrate technic² during the investigation of several problems dealing with operations on the lungs. This entailed the cauterization, through a bronchoscope, of the