title: Contralateral tension pneumothorax following unilateral chest tube drainage of bilateral pneumothoraces in a heart-lung transplant patient.
abstract: Bilateral pneumothoraces can result from unilateral air leak after heart-lung transplantation. The recommended initial management of such patients is insertion of a unilateral chest tube. We report a patient who developed bilateral pneumothoraces after undergoing transbronchial biopsies 2 years after a heart-lung transplant. The unilateral chest tube failed to drain the contralateral pneumothorax and a tension pneumothorax developed. The advocated approach should be used with caution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, Perth, Australia.
authors.forename: Y C
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: G B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: McGrath
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Chin
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Light
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001706:Biopsy; D015505:Chest Tubes; D005260:Female; D016041:Heart-Lung Transplantation; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D011030:Pneumothorax / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D012008:Recurrence