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Medical Author:

John P. Cunha, DO, FACOEP

John P. Cunha, DO, FACOEP

John P. Cunha, DO, is a U.S. board-certified Emergency Medicine Physician. Dr. Cunha's educational background includes a BS in Biology from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, and a DO from the Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences in Kansas City, MO. He completed residency training in Emergency Medicine at Newark Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark, New Jersey.

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Medical Editor:

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, Chief Medical Editor

Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD, is a U.S. board-certified Anatomic Pathologist with subspecialty training in the fields of Experimental and Molecular Pathology. Dr. Stöppler's educational background includes a BA with Highest Distinction from the University of Virginia and an MD from the University of North Carolina. She completed residency training in Anatomic Pathology at Georgetown University followed by subspecialty fellowship training in molecular diagnostics and experimental pathology.

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The primary cause of a pneumothorax is trauma to the chest cavity. A fractured rib, for example, could puncture the lung. In addition, penetrating trauma from a bullet, knife, or other sharp object can directly puncture the lung.

Sometimes, very tall, thin people are prone to a spontaneous pneumothorax. In this condition, the lung collapses after minimal or no trauma. Other risk factors are cigarette smoking and recreational drug use or abuse.

• This refers to a condition in which the lung collapses with no apparent injury or trauma.
• Abnormal, small, air-filled sacs in the lung called "blebs" typically rupture and leak air into the pleural space, leading to the spontaneous pneumothorax. This happens in the cases of tall and thin people, who because of the shape of their lungs and chest cavity, are seemingly more prone to these defects.
• Shortness of breath and sharp, stabbing chest pain develops in apparently healthy people.
• Cigarette smokers are at greater risk for spontaneous pneumothorax.
• Recreational drug users who inhale deeply and forcefully are also at greater risk.

• Direct trauma to the chest wall from either blunt or penetrating trauma causes this condition.
• Trauma can also result from diagnostic or therapeutic medical procedures, such as needle aspiration of fluid from the pleural space, a lung biopsy, or insertion of a large IV catheter into a vein near the neck.

Disease-related pneumothorax can occur due to abnormalities in the lung tissue.

• A collapsed lung can arise as a complication of the following conditions:
  • Asthma
  • Cystic fibrosis
  • Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), for example, emphysema or chronic bronchitis
  • Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), an opportunistic infection of the lungs often seen in people with AIDS

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