Familial spontaneous pneumothorax.

Abstract

Spontaneous pneumothorax usually occurs sporadically in healthy young adults, who tend to be tall and to have an asthenic habitus. The underlying cause is thought to be rupture of small subpleural lung cysts or bullae that are found in the apex of the upper lobe. On the other hand, familial spontaneous pneumothorax is known to be a rare condition, with sparse published reports.' -8 We here report the cases of two brothers who presented with spontaneous pneumothorax and had Marfan syndrome like abnormal- ities in the skeletal system. The results of HLA analysis of this family are also presented.