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Assembly

Reading Between the Lungs

Authors
Sushilkumar Satish Gupta1 M.D., Carolyn Bendor-Grynbaum2 M.D., Benhoor Shamian1 M.D., Shyam Shankar1 M.B.B.S.

1Department of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA.
2Department of Internal Medicine, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY, USA.


Case

A 20-year-old gravida 1 para 1 female was admitted to our hospital one day status-post normal spontaneous vaginal delivery. The pregnancy was without complications and she delivered at 40 weeks and 5 days gestational age. The delivery was preceded by forceful and prolonged pushing. After the delivery, she developed acute chest pain, moderate in intensity, described as a pressure-like sensation, exacerbated by deep breaths, and radiating around her neck. The pulmonary service was consulted to evaluate the patient for these symptoms. She was afebrile and oxygen saturation was 97-100% on room air. Complete blood count showed leukocytosis to 17.8K/UL with neutrophil predominance, hemoglobin of 14.3gm/dl, serum chemistry was unremarkable. A physical exam revealed bilateral lung fields clear to auscultation bilaterally, without crackles or rhonchi and no murmurs or gallops on cardiac exam. She was found to have crepitus felt on palpation of her neck.

Imaging

Question

What is the most likely diagnosis?

A. Pneumomediastinum
B. Pneumothorax
C. Amniotic fluid embolism
D. Pneumopericardium

Answer