Localized pneumothorax adjacent to a collapsed lobe: a sign of bronchial obstruction.

In the presence of lobar collapse due to bronchial obstruction with increased recoil of the affected lobe, an unusual localized pleural collection of air may result. Three patients are reported in whom obstruction of the right upper lobe bronchus resulted in radiographic findings of a dense contracted right upper lobe with an adjacent apical intrapleural gas collection. The gas resolved after bronchoscopic removal of foreign bodies in two patients and after removal of an endotracheal tube from the intermediate bronchus in the third patient.