Pneumothorax

[robint]

Well, my recovery from my mitral valve repair surgery is going great... however, I have a new concern.
Just on DAN website, looking for recommended time out of water before diving again, when I saw info on pneumothorax.
EAch day in hospital, after my surgery, I had a chest x-ray. On around Day 3 they noticed a dime sized pneumothorax in upper area of my right lung (the lung which was collapsed during surgery). This went away on its own after 3-4 days.

According to DAN, a pneumothorax means NO diving, as it could happen again underwater causing an over-expansion of lung on ascent. YIKES. Does this apply to me???????

I see my cardiologist (not the surgeon) on April 1st and will be discussing all of this, my return to diving, etc. He knows I am an active diver and want to return. He was shocked when I told him I had been diving so much and actually down to 90-100' on last dive trip. Hopefully he is doing some research so we can have an informed discussion.

 

[TSandM]

SPONTANEOUS pneumothorax (as in, lung ruptured spontaneously without trauma or a procedure to cause it) is a contraindication to diving, because the recurrence rate on that problem is unacceptably high, and the potential risk to the diver who suffers one underwater is extremely high.

Your small pneumothorax was associated with a major surgical procedure. Unless you have diagnosed lung disease of some kind, my personal feeling would be that you are at no higher risk of this while diving than someone who had never had one.

 

[Duke Dive Medicine]

Concur with TSandM. Provided there's no underlying lung damage or pathology, the pneumo in and of itself shouldn't be an issue.

 

[robint]

~whew~
Thanks! I was hoping that was the case. I will, of course, discuss with my cardiologist but it is nice to hear that it probably is not an issue that would restrict diving for me.