Spontaneous Pnumothorax (Medical Professionals ONLY PLEASE)?
Discount Medical Scrubs
Hi I am a white 32yr old guy 6'00", 170 lbs.
When I turned 17 I suffered my first spontaneous pnumothorax and since then have had a further 8 more. I was told that I was born with blisters on my lungs and its very common in young 16-28yr old thin white males... After the 4th on on my left lung a pulmonologist went in surgically through my back via a 16" incision and removed 2 ribs to scrub the lung to get rid of any remaming blisters. Since that surgery its been fine, but I since started having issues with my right lung. It collapsed three times and they went in with a scope on Aug 2010 and put a talc powder around the lung to cause scaring and to keep the lung from collapsing. Well 2 weeks ago it collapsed again. It was a SMALL collapse, no chest tube needed, just 48 hours of observation and pure oxygen.. I am wondering 1) what are the chance of this happening again, 2) If another big one DOES happen what can be done about it. 3) If I have problems later in life with my lungs or heart and needed a by-pass, or a pransplant of either.. with all the scaring in my chest, how is that going to affect it? Now after the surgery is when the I thought about the questions, and its too late to opt out now. Yet Im tired of dealing with the collapses... What would your suggestions be, or can I ask my doctor should it happen again?
Thank you SO much!!!
Tags: blisters, chest tube, Collapse, Collapses, discount medical, Heart, incision, left lung, lungs, observation, Oxygen, pnumothorax, pulmonologist, ribs, scope, talc powder, three times
May 2nd, 2011 at 2:01 am
Spontaneous pneumothorax(es) tend to happen to tall, thin people.
In your case, it seems that you have been unlucky, and possibly have been somewhat predisposed by other factors.
The surgeries that the chest surgeons did are entirely the right course of action for recurrent PTX. It will not affect any future surgeries you might have, other than perhaps you might be more susceptible to have pulmonary issues if you are on a ventilator for some reason.
I’m not aware of what can be done to prevent this from happening; that’s a good question for your surgeon.