Abstract
66 y.o. patient with end-stage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease was hospitalized in a standard ward, after abrupt onset of dyspnea a chest X-ray showed a pneumothorax. However, ultrasound examination before pleural drainage did not confirm pneumothorax and thus drainage was not performed.
A computed tomography scan showed vanishing lung syndrome, explaining the X-ray finding. This case report points out vanishing lung syndrome and demonstrates complementarity of different imaging methods in diagnostic of pneumothorax in patient with complicated intrathoracic pathologies.