Severe Acute Asthma, Subcutaneous Emphysema, Pneumomediastinum and Pneumothorax Related to Cocaine: A Rare Clinical Case

Abstract

Cocaine is one of the most widely used and trafficked illicit drugs in the world. Snorted or smoked cocaine can cause a variety of pulmonary complications ranging from bronchospasm to destruction of the alveolar-capillary membrane. We report the case of a 19 year old female patient, asthmatic since the age of 12 with non compliance to treatment, admitted for severe acute asthma associated with soft tissue emphysema, pneumomediastinum and right pneumothorax, secondary to her first consumption of snorted cocaine, requiring intubation and ventilation in intensive care with good radio-clinical evolution under symptomatic treatment.