Pneumothorax, music and balloons: A case series
A 26-years-old painter and decorator presented with acute onset of severe right side chest pain and dyspnoea shortly after he blew 26 birthday balloons. He was a smoker with 11-pack-year history of smoking. He had no other significant past medical history and was not on any regular medications.\nOn examination, he had oxygen saturations of 97% while breathing room air and was haemodynamically stable. Respiratory system examination revealed decreased air entry on the right side. His chest radiograph showed a moderate right pneumothorax []. It was treated with simple needle aspiration with full expansion of the affected lung. However, he re-presented to ED with worsening dyspnoea on the next day and chest radiograph suggested a recurrence of pneumothorax. Hence an inter-costal chest drain was inserted and he was admitted to the respiratory ward. There was no resolution of his pneumothorax with a persistent air leak for the next 10 days. Therefore, a thoracic surgical intervention with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATs) was undertaken with a successful right apical bullectomy and pleurectomy.