• Marielle M J Blacha, Illaa Smesseim, Ivo van der Lee, Joost G van den Aardweg, Marcus J Schultz, Marja L J Kik, Linda van Sonsbeek, Bernadette S de Bakker, and Richard W Light.
• Department of Intensive Care, Amsterdam University Medical Centers, AMC, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• Chest. 2021 Dec 1; 160 (6): 2275-2282.

BackgroundThe "buffalo chest" is a condition in which a simultaneous bilateral pneumothorax occurs due to a communication of both pleural cavities caused by an iatrogenic or idiopathic fenestration of the mediastinum. This rare condition is known by many clinicians because of a particular anecdote which stated that Native Americans could kill a North American bison with a single arrow in the chest by creating a simultaneous bilateral pneumothorax, due to the animal's peculiar anatomy in which there is one contiguous pleural space due to an incomplete mediastinum.Research QuestionWhat evidence is there for the existence of buffalo chest?Study Design And MethodsThe term "buffalo chest" and its anecdote were first mentioned in a ''personal communication'' by a veterinarian in the Annals of Surgery in 1984. A mixed method research was performed on buffalo chest and its etiology. A total of 47 cases of buffalo chest were identified in humans.ResultsThis study found that all authors were referring to the article from 1984 or to each other. Evidence was found for interpleural communications in other mammal species, but no literature on the anatomy of the mediastinum of the bison was found. The main reason for this research was fact-checking the origin of the anecdote and search for evidence for the existence of buffalo chest. Autopsies were performed on eight bison, and four indeed were found to have had interpleural communications.InterpretationWe hypothesize that humans can also have interpleural fenestrations, which can be diagnosed when a pneumothorax occurs.Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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