Data on the epidemiology, diagnosis, and treatment of patients with pneumothorax

This data was acquired using a cross-sectional design in which medical records of patients admitted at Arya and Razi Hospitals of Rasht from 2006 to 2015 were examined. The patients’ demographic data, history of smoking and opium, underlying disease, clinical symptoms at admission, the utilized diagnostic method, duration of hospitalization, findings of chest CT scan, type of pneumothorax, and therapeutic technique were collected through a questionnaire. The collected data were encoded and analyzed using SPSS 21.0. Smoking rate was measured in the primary and secondary spontaneous pneumothorax groups and acquired pneumothorax group. The most frequent underlying disease in the patients with secondary spontaneous pneumothorax (SSP) was COPD that was observed in 41 patients (51.25%). The frequency of bleb was measured in the three groups. Out of 38 patients (15.01%) with recurrence of pneumothorax, 68.42% had PSP type. Chest tube was the most frequently used therapeutic technique, which was utilized 92.88% out of 235 patients. Keywords: Pneumothorax, Epidemiology, Traumatic pneumothora

Giant thymolipoma of mediastinum and neck – initially misdiagnosed as liposarcoma by core needle biopsy

Thymolipomas are rare benign tumors, constituting one of the differential diagnoses of an anterior mediastinal mass. These tumors may have an indolent, asymptomatic course, often achieving massive dimensions before presentation. When it is symptomatic, respiratory symptoms predominate. We report a case of thymolipoma in a 30-year-old male complaining of heaviness and constricting type of chest pain and neck swelling of 1-year duration. Computed tomography scan finding revealed a space-occupying lesion in the anterior mediastinum and extend to the right side of the mediastinum, neck, and left hemithorax. A sono-guided core needle biopsy was carried out which identified an atypical cell and was suspicious to liposarcoma. The tumor was completely excised through “posterolateral thoracotomy.” Postoperative histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of thymolipoma. This is the second case we have reported from our institution