Evaluation of pneumothorax in the neonatal intensive care unit

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Pneumothorax is one of the most common pulmonary air leak syndromes and appears more often in the newborn period than at any other time of life. We aimed to determine and compare the demographic characteristics, clinical courses and outcomes of newborns with primary and secondary pneumothorax in this study. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In this single-centre retrospective study, maternal and neonatal data were collected from medical records at Malatya Turgut Ozal University Hospital between January 2020 to July 2021. FINDINGS: Twenty nine newborns diagnosed with pneumothorax and of these, 16 were male (55.2%) and 19 (65.5%) were born by cesarean section and 6 (20.7%) were premature. The mean gestational age was 37.5±2.6 weeks and birth weight was 3063.4±53 grams. The median age at diagnosis was 5 h (1-96) and the mean hospital stay was 9.55±4.38 days. The mean drainage time was 4.1±2.13 days. 13 (44.8%) neonates were classified as primary, while 16 patients (55.2%) had an underlying pulmonary disease or predisposing factor. Our study demonstrated a statistically significant difference between groups in terms of Apgar score 5th min and SNAP-II scores (p < 0.05). The occurance of pneumothorax was significantly earlier in the primary group (p < 0.05). Our study revealed significantly longer total oxygen, CPAP and mechanical ventilation durations in the secondary pneumothorax group (p < 0.05). RESULTS: Neonatal pneumothorax is still associated with significant morbidity and mortality and primary pneumothorax had more favorable outcomes than secondary pneumothorax. KEYWORDS: Newborn, Pneumothorax, Respiratory distress