On your toes: Detecting mediastinal air on the chest radiograph in ecstasy abusers

Abnormal mediastinal air may be caused by inhalational illicit drug use subsequent to barotrauma resulting from coughing after deep inhalation and breath holding. It may also arise from oesophageal rupture due to retching after ingestion of the illicit drug. The history can alert the practitioner to this cause of chest pain. As chest radiographs are widely accessible and mediastinal air is easily recognisable, the chest radiograph should be included and carefully scrutinised in the diagnostic workup of chest pain in the recreational drug abuser. It is prudent to exclude oesophageal rupture, particularly in the setting of retching, before deciding on conservative and expectant management.

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Naidoo,M, Govind,M
Format: Digital revista
Language:English
Published: South African Medical Association 2016
Online Access:http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-95742016000500024
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spelling oai:scielo:S0256-957420160005000242016-06-15On your toes: Detecting mediastinal air on the chest radiograph in ecstasy abusersNaidoo,MGovind,MAbnormal mediastinal air may be caused by inhalational illicit drug use subsequent to barotrauma resulting from coughing after deep inhalation and breath holding. It may also arise from oesophageal rupture due to retching after ingestion of the illicit drug. The history can alert the practitioner to this cause of chest pain. As chest radiographs are widely accessible and mediastinal air is easily recognisable, the chest radiograph should be included and carefully scrutinised in the diagnostic workup of chest pain in the recreational drug abuser. It is prudent to exclude oesophageal rupture, particularly in the setting of retching, before deciding on conservative and expectant management.South African Medical AssociationSAMJ: South African Medical Journal v.106 n.5 20162016-05-01journal articletext/htmlhttp://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-95742016000500024en
institution SCIELO
collection OJS
country Sudáfrica
countrycode ZA
component Revista
access En linea
databasecode rev-scielo-za
tag revista
region África del Sur
libraryname SciELO
language English
format Digital
author Naidoo,M
Govind,M
spellingShingle Naidoo,M
Govind,M
On your toes: Detecting mediastinal air on the chest radiograph in ecstasy abusers
author_facet Naidoo,M
Govind,M
author_sort Naidoo,M
title On your toes: Detecting mediastinal air on the chest radiograph in ecstasy abusers
title_short On your toes: Detecting mediastinal air on the chest radiograph in ecstasy abusers
title_full On your toes: Detecting mediastinal air on the chest radiograph in ecstasy abusers
title_fullStr On your toes: Detecting mediastinal air on the chest radiograph in ecstasy abusers
title_full_unstemmed On your toes: Detecting mediastinal air on the chest radiograph in ecstasy abusers
title_sort on your toes: detecting mediastinal air on the chest radiograph in ecstasy abusers
description Abnormal mediastinal air may be caused by inhalational illicit drug use subsequent to barotrauma resulting from coughing after deep inhalation and breath holding. It may also arise from oesophageal rupture due to retching after ingestion of the illicit drug. The history can alert the practitioner to this cause of chest pain. As chest radiographs are widely accessible and mediastinal air is easily recognisable, the chest radiograph should be included and carefully scrutinised in the diagnostic workup of chest pain in the recreational drug abuser. It is prudent to exclude oesophageal rupture, particularly in the setting of retching, before deciding on conservative and expectant management.
publisher South African Medical Association
publishDate 2016
url http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0256-95742016000500024
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