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
Case Reports
. 2021 Oct;11(5):e794-e795.
doi: 10.1212/CPJ.0000000000001052.

Bilateral Pneumothoraces in a 3-Month-Old Infant During an Apnea Test in the Diagnosis of Brain Death

Ariel Daube  1 , Mohamed Gaffoor  1 , Zhanna Georgievskaya  1 , Jeffrey R Avner  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Bilateral Pneumothoraces in a 3-Month-Old Infant During an Apnea Test in the Diagnosis of Brain Death

Ariel Daube et al. Neurol Clin Pract. 2021 Oct.

Abstract

We present the case of a 3-month-old boy who suffered bilateral pneumothoraces secondary to insufflation of oxygen into the endotracheal tube during the apnea test as part of brain death testing. Although rare, awareness of this potential complication of the apnea test is of particular importance in pediatric patients who have narrow endotracheal tubes because resistance to expiratory flow increases exponentially as lumen diameter decreases.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure
Figure. Bilateral Pneumothoraces That Developed Suddenly During the Apnea Test
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bar-Joseph G, Bar-Lavie Y, Zonis Z. Tension pneumothorax during the apnea test for the determination of brain death. Anesthesiology 1998;89:1250–1251. - PubMed
    1. Burns J, Russel J. Tension pneumothorax complicating apnea testing during brain death evaluation. J Clin Neurosci 2007;15:580–582. - PubMed
    1. Thery G, Rosman J, Julien G, Chaix F, Mateu P. Brain death: bilateral pneumothorax and pneumoperitoneum after an apnoea test. Anaesth Crit Care Pain Med 2019;38:89–90. - PubMed
    1. Busl KM, Lewis A, Varelas PN. Apnea testing for the determination of brain death: a systematic scoping review. Neurocrit Care 2020;10:1–13. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sapsonik G, Rizzo G, Vega A, et al. . Problems associated with the apnea test in the diagnosis of brain death. Neurol India 2004;52:342–345. - PubMed

Publication types