TITLE:
Vanishing Lung
AUTHORS:
Mohamed Alhaj Moustafa
KEYWORDS:
Vanishing Lung, Bullae, Post TB Lung Destruction, Lung Hyperlucency
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Thoracic Surgery,
Vol.12 No.3,
September
7,
2022
ABSTRACT: Background: Vanishing lung is a rare syndrome. It mainly affects young males who are smokers, it considered an advanced
stage of bullous disease, where the entire lobe or lung paranchym is replaced
by bullae, it appears radiologically as a
hyperlucency due to air trapping and destruction of interstitial
tissue and vascularity in alveolar wall’s.
Misdiagnosed usually as pneumothorax so must be differentiated from other causes
of Hyperlucency lung syndrom. Hereby a case of vanishing lung diagnosed primarily as a post TB lung destruction. Case Report: A sixteenth-year-old virgin female patient, with treated for TB for six months without radilogical improvement. CXR and CT
scan revealed diffuse left lung hyperlucency, TB work up (sputum exam, washing
by bronchoscopy) appears no active disease. Left pneumenctomy had done, grossly
there are no lung pranchyma and microscopically no signs of TB in the specimen.
The findings are consistent with Vanishing lung. Conclusions: An
understanding of the broad differential diagnosis of pulmonary hyperlucency is
necessary to determine the underlying cause and provide appropriate patient
care.