A Giant Bulla of the Lung Mimicking Tension Pneumothorax

Herein, we report a case of giant bulla of the right lung in a 35 year old woman. She had respiratory distress and non productive cough for four months. Computed tomography of the chest revealed a giant bulla of the right lung mimicking tension pneumothrax. Being diagnosed with pneumothrax she was treated with closed chest tube drainage and as her condition did not improve after chest tube insertion was referred to our center. Her condition didn’t improve even with the second chest tube insertion so we decided to procede with thoracotomy. By performing a right thoracotomy, a giant bulla with diameters of 30×25×25 cm was discovered and resected. Giant bulla should be included in the differential diagnosis of pneumothrax.