Patient centred care for spontaneous pneumomediastinum: a step in the right direction

[摘要] René Laennec, the 19th century French physician, invented the stethoscope in 1816 and is widely credited for naming the various clinical characteristics such as ‘rales, rhonchi, crepitance, and egophony’ associated with respiratory pathophysiology (1). He also described pneumomediastinum (PNM) as an abnormal presence of air or gas within the mediastinum in 1827 (2). Spontaneous PNM occurs with no definite cause (trauma, infection, perforation in the respiratory system or gastro-intestinal tract) and the first case series was described by Hamman in 1939 (3).

[学科分类] 呼吸医学

[关键词] Pneumomediastinum (PNM);oesophageal perforation;patient centred care