The causes of neonatal pneumothorax need to be understood by type

In clinical practice, pneumothorax is a very common disease in newborns. Generally speaking, when parents discover that their newborns have pneumothorax, they need to find out the cause.

1. Primary pneumothorax

Also called idiopathic pneumothorax. It refers to pneumothorax that occurs in healthy people in whom routine lung X-ray examinations fail to reveal obvious lesions. It is more common in young people, especially thin and tall men.

2. Secondary pneumothorax

Its mechanism of occurrence is the formation of pulmonary bullae or direct damage to the pleura on the basis of other lung diseases. Bullae are often formed on the basis of chronic obstructive pulmonary emphysema or post-inflammatory fibrosis (such as silicosis, chronic tuberculosis, diffuse pulmonary interstitial fibrosis, cystic pulmonary fibrosis, etc.). The bronchioles are narrowed and twisted due to inflammation, producing a living valve mechanism. The enlarged emphysematous bubbles undergo degenerative degeneration due to nutritional and circulatory disorders.

3. Traumatic pneumothorax

It is mostly caused by the lungs being punctured by broken ribs, but can also be caused by contusion of bronchus or lung tissue due to violence, or rupture of bronchus or lung due to a sharp increase in airway pressure. Sharp weapon or firearm injuries that penetrate the chest wall and injure the lungs, bronchi, trachea, or esophagus can also cause pneumothorax, which is usually hemothorax or pyopneumothorax. Occasionally, closed or penetrating diaphragmatic rupture is accompanied by gastric rupture, causing pyopneumothorax.