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Reminder of important clinical lesson
Asymptomatic spontaneous cervical and mediastinal emphysema
  1. Hitoshi Ojima1,
  2. Yasuyuki Fukai1,
  3. Makoto Soda1,
  4. Hiroyuki Kuwano2
  1. 2Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Gunma Prefectural Cancer Center, Ota, Gunma, Japan
  2. 2Department of General Surgical Science, Gunma University Faculty of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma, Japan
  1. Correspondence to Dr Hitoshi Ojima, hiojima{at}gunma-cc.jp

We report our experience with four patients presenting with spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SPM) within a 3-month period. The patients (three male and one female, aged 15–17 years) were hospitalised with SPM. All patients were kept under observation, successfully treated and followed up for several years, with no recurrences reported. Two patients had histories of asthma, while the other two developed SPM during sporting activities. SPM carries the possibility of being latent. For symptoms such as chest pain without evidence of pneumothorax in young people, it is necessary to always consider SPM and make the diagnosis accordingly.

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  • Competing interests None.

  • Patient consent No.