Here is a regular CXR - for comparison.
An individual presented to the ER with the main complaint being " I can't see".
Stroke, Tumor, Retinal detachment - there are a few possibilities for this condition.
This patient had an interesting cause.
Here is what happened.
The patient had fallen several days prior to their vision loss (possibly a week before). Unknown to them (or possibly ignored by them) they had broken some ribs and punctured their lung. The air leaking out of there lung had steadily leaked out of the chest and into the space between the ribs / muscle and the skin (an area typically full of fat) called the Subcutaneous (SubQ) layer of tissue.
As the air continued to leak out it tracked up and down that subQ tissue plane until it had eventually caused swelling in their eyelids to the point where he could not open them any longer, hence his chief complaint. They had air literally from the top of their head to their toes. They felt kind of crinkly / crunchy when we touched them.
Obviously there are a few questions here like -- did you not notice that you were swelling up like a balloon. Very bizarre. In any case the patient recovered fully.
I have examples of subcutaneous emphysema above to illustrate the situation.
Stroke, Tumor, Retinal detachment - there are a few possibilities for this condition.
This patient had an interesting cause.
Here is what happened.
The patient had fallen several days prior to their vision loss (possibly a week before). Unknown to them (or possibly ignored by them) they had broken some ribs and punctured their lung. The air leaking out of there lung had steadily leaked out of the chest and into the space between the ribs / muscle and the skin (an area typically full of fat) called the Subcutaneous (SubQ) layer of tissue.
As the air continued to leak out it tracked up and down that subQ tissue plane until it had eventually caused swelling in their eyelids to the point where he could not open them any longer, hence his chief complaint. They had air literally from the top of their head to their toes. They felt kind of crinkly / crunchy when we touched them.
Obviously there are a few questions here like -- did you not notice that you were swelling up like a balloon. Very bizarre. In any case the patient recovered fully.
I have examples of subcutaneous emphysema above to illustrate the situation.
3 comments:
are you kidding me? How old was this person? Please tell me old and not just dence!
Wow, guess you could say this guy had his own bubble wrap. I'll try to remember this next time I want to ship someone.
Wow! How was the problem remedied?
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