The term ‘pneumothorax’ was first coined by Itard
and then Laennec in 1803 and 1819 respectively,1
and refers to air in the pleural cavity (ie, interspersed
between the lung and the chest wall). At
that time, most cases of pneumothorax were
secondary to tuberculosis, although some were
recognised as occurring in otherwise healthy
patients (‘pneumothorax simple’). This classification
has endured subsequently, with the first
modern description of pneumothorax occurring in
healthy people (primary spontaneous pneumothorax,
PSP) being that of Kjærgaard2 in 1932. It is
a significant global health problem, with a reported
incidence of 18e28/100 000 cases per annum for
men and 1.2e6/100 000 for women.3
