Analysis of 39 Cases of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Complicated with Spontaneous Pneumothorax

Objective To investigate the clinical features of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated with spontaneous pneumothorax.Methods 39 cases of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated with spontaneous pneumothorax and 35 other patients were treated in our hospital from April 2003 to July 2009 were analyzed retrospectively,characteristics of them were compared.Results The acute and chronic onset of the spontaneous pneumothorax in the elder patients were 12 cases and 27 respectively;18 cases of them were misdiagnosed in the first diagnosis (46.15%),4 died (10.26%).Conclusion Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated with spontaneous pneumothorax not only has slow-onset and no typical clinical features but also has high misdiagnosis rate and mortality rate.Closed chest tube drainage should be performed as early as possible because of the unsatisfactory effect of simple evacuation.