Bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax in critically-ill COVID-19 infants: About two cases

• Published in: Annals of medicine and surgery 2022-01, Vol.73, p.103172, Article 103172
• Main Authors: Laaribi, Ilyass, Mimouni, Hamza, Bouayed, Zakaria, El Aidouni, Ghizlane, Berrichi, Samia, Bahouh, Choukri, Bkiyar, Houssam, Housni, Brahim
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Case Report; COVID-19; Infant patients; Spontaneous pneumothorax
• ISSN: 2049-0801; 2049-0801
• DOI: 10.1016/j.amsu.2021.103172

COVID-19 is an emerging infection, it is the first large-scale pandemic of the 21st century. Several complications have been described during this infection but spontaneous pneumothorax remains an uncommon complication, even more so in infants. We report two cases of a 9-month-old and 18-month-old males admitted to our department for the management of an acute respiratory distress due to a COVID-19 infection associated to a spontaneous pneumothorax successfully drained. While one patient had a favorable outcome, the other was readmitted to our department for the management of a septic shock secondary to a urinary tract infection with a deadly outcome. In this paragraph we describe known causes behind spontaneous pneumothorax, before detailing the different pathogenesis hypotheses linking pneumothorax to COVID-19, all while comparing data to the literature related to the adult population. Spontaneous pneumothorax is a serious complication associated with severe COVID-19 that can occur in infants and must be considered in the event of a respiratory aggravation or a persistent hypoxia. -The full scope of COVID-19's complications is widening with every related work reported in the literature.-Spontaneous pneumothorax in infants infected with COVID-19 is an unprecedented complication.-Multiple hypotheses were proposed to explain the occurrence of a spontaneous pneumothorax but none have been conclusively proven