Comparison of spontaneous and secondary pneumomediastinum | Chest Disease Reports

Pneumomediastinum (PM) is an uncommon event defined as the presence of free air in the mediastinum. Its clinical picture includes retrosternal chest pain, subcutaneous emphysema, dyspnea, dysphagia, dysphonia and asthenia. PM is further divided into two groups of patients: spontaneous PM, without any obvious primary source, and secondary PM, with a specific responsible pathologic event, such as trauma, intrathoracic infections, violation of the aerodigestive track or others. We retrospectively examined and compared backgrounds, onset, treatments and outcomes of ten and 5 patients in spontaneous and secondary PM