BULLOUS EMPHYSEMA


The management of the complications of bullous emphysema: A case study.


WHEN IS A PNEUMOTHORAX NOT A PNEUMOTHORAX?


JEREMY WELDON T


his case relates to a patient who presented to an urgent care centre with complications associated with severe bullous emphysema. The aim of this article is to describe the case, to discuss the imaging and clinical management, and to assist


radiographers with informal commenting or formal reporting of such cases. Emphysema is defined by its pathological features as ‘dilatation of the air spaces distal to the terminal


JUNE 2017 bronchioles with destruction of the alveoli’1 . This is


set in the context of the umbrella disease process of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) of which chronic bronchitis, emphysema and airway obstruction are constituent parts1


. The World Health Organisation


(WHO) considers COPD as the main term with chronic bronchitis and emphysema considered aspects of COPD2


There are three types of emphysema – centrilobular, panlobular and paraseptal, shown in Figure 1.


5 .


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