Pneumothorax (Collapsed Lung)

[docpugh]

Personally, I would say in the long run, things should be OK. Trumpet playing (tuba too) is relatively high volume, low pressure and shouldn't be a problem. Just tell her not to take up the oboe, glass blowing, or scuba diving. I think perhaps since your lung collapse, the advice for activities is a little more liberal. I personally don't believe the airway pressures involved in trumpet playing, or tuba playing for that matter, should be a big issue, but I'd still use caution and be wary of any symptoms that develop.

Seriously, since you and your daughter (hers at a young age) both had a spontaneous pneumothorax, there is likely something genetic here: alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, Marfan syndrome, Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, or familial spontaneous pneumothorax. The alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency is probably the most common of these. Some things to consider to help with the long term: avoiding smoking; good lung health through regular exercise; getting flu shots, pneumonia vaccines to avoid lung infections, etc.

I would highly recommend going to talk with a pulmonologist or thoracic surgeon about options here. If she never has another pnemothorax, then great. But I'd be careful of high pressure things: oboe, glass blowing, plane rides, scuba diving. If she has another one, then assuming it's the alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency, there are surgical options to resect the blebs that rupture and cause lung collapse. With new minimally invasive surgical techniques, this is becoming a better option for these people.

Here is a resource that I found. I hope it helps.
The Spontaneous Pnuemothorax Patient Network

[MikeMason]

its nice to have a close personal friend who is a doctor long live the tubenet(in any incarnation)...........

[phoenix]

My friend (trumpet player and singer) also had a collapsed lung over the summer. He recovered fairly quickly and was able to continue playing, marching band during the fall!, and band and chorus in school. He would have probably made All-State Chorus if he had practiced his Region Chorus music.

Brett Miller

[docpugh]

The classification of the trumpet as a low pressure instrument is simply not true though. While one may play the trumpet with moderate pressure (as opposed to the oboe which almost always causes a purple contenance) playing with any enthusiasm makes the trumpet a real, real, real high pressure instrument. A common factor from Dizzy through James, Chase, Ferguson et al was badly strained/ruptured cheek and throat structure. Roy Eldredge and Armstrong both had to give up the trumpet because of heart conditions. Chamber music aside the trumpet is up there with the air guitar as an athletic endeavour.....

Thanks for the help on this one. When I made that statement, I was thinking to myself, what about those guys like Dizzy, etc. Like you say though, one can play the trumpet with moderate pressure and keeping a mind on not over-doing it will probably be the key here.