- A study has found that one in 100 patients admitted to hospital with Covid-19 develop a pneumothorax – a ‘punctured lung’.
- Damage to the lungs can lead to a puncture, just like it happens in the inner tube of a tyre. As air leaks out of the puncture, it builds up in the cavity between the lung and chest wall, and causes the lung to collapse.
- This typically affects very tall young men or older patients with severe under-lying lung disease.
- Researchers observed Covid-19 patients not belonging to these two categories, but who had developed punctured lungs.
- Data from 16 hospitals revealed an incidence of 0.91 per cent. Just under two-thirds (63 per cent) of patients with a punctured lung survived.
