Pneumothorax Following Needle Electromyography in a Patient with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Who Presented with Respiartory Failure As an Initial Symptom |
Seung-An Lee, M.D. Hyun-Suk Lee, and Dae-Seong Kim |
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Copyright © 2008 The Korean Society of Clinical Neurophysiology |
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited. |
ABSTRACT |
We report a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) who developed a pneumothorax after needle electromyography (EMG), probably of the intercostal muscles. Needle EMG on intercostal muscles has a high risk of pneumothorax, not only because electromyographers are unfamiliar to its technique, but also due to its close anatomical location to the pleural cavity. In our patient, advanced intercostal muscle atrophy due to disease process would have increased the risk further. |
Key words:
Pneumothorax, Needle electromyography, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis |
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