• Pei-Yeh Chang, Kin-Sun Wong, Jin-Yao Lai, Jeng-Chang Chen, Tai-Wai Chin, Ke-Chi Chen, Chao-Jan Wang, Chee-Jen Chang, Wen-Ming Hsu, and Nien-Lu Wang.
• Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University, College of Medicine, Taoyuan, Taiwan. Electronic address: pyjchang@cgmh.org.tw.
• Pediatr Neonatol. 2015 Feb 1; 56 (1): 53-7.

BackgroundWe determined the chest height in a cohort of patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) who had received chest radiographic examinations prior to the attack. The aim of this study was to determine when their chest height began to change and how this was related to the PSP.MethodsFrom June 2009 to February 2012, the chest posteroanterior radiographs of 156 patients with PSP (Group 1) were reviewed. Among another 3134 patients with PSP, we identified 52 patients who had a chest posteroanterior radiograph prior to the attack (Group 2). We also recruited 196 controls for comparison (Group 3). The chest height and chest width at different levels were measured and analyzed.ResultsBefore 14 years of age, the chest height of patients in Group 2 was no different from that of patients in Group 3. By the age of 14 years, however, the chest height and upper chest width of patients with PSP was significantly higher than that of the normal controls. The difference from normal chest height did not increase at adulthood.ConclusionThe rapid increase in chest height and upper chest width is a unique finding in patients with PSP. It might be attributable to the occurrence of PSP. This finding may also help to identify patients who are at risk of PSP.Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V.

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