Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2000;67(4):408-11.
doi: 10.1159/000029539.

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum in 33 patients: yield of chest computed tomography for the diagnosis of the mild type

T Kaneki  1 , K Kubo, A Kawashima, T Koizumi, M Sekiguchi, S Sone
Affiliations

Spontaneous pneumomediastinum in 33 patients: yield of chest computed tomography for the diagnosis of the mild type

T Kaneki et al. Respiration. 2000.

Abstract

Background: Spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SPM) usually occurs in young people without an apparent precipitating factor or disease. Although there have been many studies focused on the clinical features and standard chest X-ray (CXR) findings of SPM, few have reviewed the chest computed-tomographic (CT) findings.

Objectives: We assessed SPM using CXR and CT, and the relation between them.

Methods: We evaluated 33 patients (26 males) diagnosed with SPM on the basis of symptoms and chest radiological findings.

Results: Three patients showed normal CXR but a diagnostic CT scan. Seven showed mild pneumomediastinum on CXR. In these 10 patients, pneumomediastinum was easily detected by chest CT. Moderate and severe SPM were easily detected by both CXR and CT.

Conclusions: These findings suggested that CXR alone poorly detected approximately 30% of SPM and that chest CT scan was needed to make the diagnosis in these cases. It seems likely that SPM is underdiagnosed by 30% or more in clinical practice.

PubMed Disclaimer