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| Interstitial Emphysema |
Question:
What is interstitial emphysema?
Answer:
Pulmonary interstitial emphysema is the result of air pressure exerted
during mechanical ventilation (a respirator). The typical patient
with PIE is an infant (usually preterm) who has such severe lung
disease that he or she is placed on high-pressure mechanical
ventilation; some air sacs (alveoli) rupture under the pressure and
air leaks into the interstitial space (the part of the lung right
around the tiny blood vessels that supply the alveoli.
Interstitial emphysema is associated with pulmonary barotrauma rather than DCS
per se, and results in bubbles inside the pleural membrane which do not enter
the blood stream. Can lead to pneumothorax, or to an arterial gas embolism
should the pleural membrane rupture. Emphysema and embolism are the
conditions caused by bubbles, rather than the actual bubbles themselves.
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