Case Report


Pneumomediastinum: A severe complication of dermatomyositis

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1 MBBS, Mackay Base Hospital, 475 Bridge Road, Mackay, Queensland, Australia

2 FRACP, Mackay Base Hospital, 475 Bridge Road, Mackay, Queensland, Australia

Address correspondence to:

Pranav Kumar

FRACP, Mackay Base Hospital, 475 Bridge Road, Mackay, Queensland, 4740,

Australia

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Article ID: 101247Z01SL2021

doi: 10.5348/101247Z01SL2021CR

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How to cite this article

Lee SZ, Syed MT, Kumar P. Pneumomediastinum: A severe complication of dermatomyositis. Int J Case Rep Images 2021;12:101247Z01SL2021.

ABSTRACT


Dermatomyositis is an autoimmune disease that is considered a subset of idiopathic inflammatory myopathy. It is characterized by a skin rash with progressive muscle weakness. Pneumomediastinum is a rapidly progressive complication of dermatomyositis, which is hypothesized to be a result of ruptured subpleural cysts, pulmonary vasculopathy, and steroid-mediated weakening of alveolar walls. This complication is associated with a high mortality rate of 30%. Hence, it should be rapidly investigated and treated when there is a high clinical suspicion. In this article, we report a rare case of patient with dermatomyositis (DM) who developed pneumomediastinum and discussed a literature review of this occurrence.

Keywords: Dermatomyositis, Dyspnoea, Pneumomediastinum

SUPPORTING INFORMATION


Author Contributions

Shawn Zhenhui Lee - Conception of the work, Design of the work, Drafting the work, Revising the work critically for important intellectual content, Final approval of the version to be published, Agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Mohammed Tousif Syed - Drafting the work, Final approval of the version to be published, Agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Pranav Kumar - Acquisition of data, Drafting the work, Final approval of the version to be published, Agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved.

Guarantor of Submission

The corresponding author is the guarantor of submission.

Source of Support

None

Consent Statement

Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this article.

Data Availability

All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.

Conflict of Interest

Authors declare no conflict of interest.

Copyright

© 2021 Shawn Zhenhui Lee et al. This article is distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided the original author(s) and original publisher are properly credited. Please see the copyright policy on the journal website for more information.