Rare Complication Of Blunt Chest Trauma: Pulmonary Pseudocyst

Abstract

Traumatic pulmonary pseudocyst is an infrequent complication of blunt chest trauma. A 40 year-old male patient was hospitalized after a blunt chest trauma. Twenty hours after the accident, two air filled cysts with a surrounding consolidation area, in the upper lobe of left lung were detected radiologically. The patient did not give any previous lung disease history. The cysts of the lung were firstly accepted as traumatic pulmonary pseudocyst and followed-up with conservative management. During the follow-up, pseudocysts began to shrink after the 17th day and compeletely resolved on the 51st day of the accident. This rare entity is most often seen in children and young adults. Traumatic pulmonary pseudocysts do not include epithelium or bronchial wall elements as it is in a true cyst. The treatment is generally conservative since they usually resolve spontaneously. Surgery should be considered in case of failed conservative treatment and development of complications.