GIANT BRONCHOGENIC CYST MASQUERADING AS TENSION PNEUMOTHORAX - RADIOGRAPHIC AND CT FINDINGS

Pulmonary bronchogenic cysts with tracheobronchial communication may o ccasionally mimic tension pneumothorax leading to unnecessary thoracos tomy. We describe such a case to emphasize that cautious identificatio n of the direction of displacement of the collapsed lung tissue on che st radiograph or computed tomography (CT) may help in differentiating these two diseases. Tension pneumothorax should lead to centripetal co mpression of the ipsilateral lung toward the hilum while giant broncho genic cysts result in centrifugal displacement of the adjacent lung aw ay from the helium. (C) Elsevier Science Inc., 1997.