Bullous lung disease in pregnancy: a case report

Abstract

Bullous lung disease presenting as a pneumothorax in pregnancy has not been reported in the literature to date. We present the case of a woman in her third pregnancy presenting to routine antenatal clinic with a secondary spontaneous pneumothorax in the third trimester. We describe the multidisciplinary approach to her management with obstetrics, obstetric anaesthesiology, cardiothoracic surgery and midwifery. This included decision making around conservative management in the initial disease course, preparation for delivery and a plan for definitive surgery postnatally. Caesarean section was performed at 36 weeks’ gestation owing to worsening chest pain. The underlying pathological process was deemed to be bullous lung disease which was confirmed on histology obtained from a video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery procedure done postnatally. We demonstrate the importance of the multidisciplinary team approach in the care of complex and rare medical conditions in pregnancy.