Delayed pulmonary perforation. A rare complication of tube thoracostomy.

Tube thoracostomy is a standard therapy for a number of pulmonary disorders. The procedure is associated with a certain incidence of morbidity related to the technique of insertion, the patient population selected, and the length of time the tube remains in place. Complications of tube placement previously described include empyema, residual pneumothorax, lung perforation, placement of the tube in the chest wall, diaphragmatic perforation, perforation of intraabdominal organs (such as spleen, liver and stomach), unilateral pulmonary edema, bronchopleural fistula, hemothorax, cardiogenic shock and Horner syndrome. A case of a delayed pulmonary perforation developing several days after placement of a chest tube is described with a discussion of the clinical and radiographic findings associated with this complication. A possible pathophysiologic mechanism by which this complication may have occurred is proposed.