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Paratracheal Air Cysts: A Common Finding on Routine CT Examinations of the Cervical Spine and Neck That May Mimic Pneumomediastinum in Patients With Traumatic Injuries

J.E. Buterbaugha and W.K. Erlya

a From the Department of Radiology, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Tucson, Ariz


Figure 1
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  		Fig 1. Right-sided paratracheal air cyst (arrow) at the thoracic inlet. T indicates trachea; E, esophagus; cc, common carotid; SCA, subclavian artery; IJ, internal jugular vein; Thy, inferior portion of the right lobe of the thyroid gland.


Figure 2
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  		Fig 2. An 18-year-old woman with typical multiloculated paratracheal air cyst seen in the axial plane (image A superior to B) and in the coronal (C) and sagittal (D) planes. Cyst is labeled with white arrows.


Figure 3
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  		Fig 3. Sequential images through a right-sided paratracheal air cyst. Communication with the trachea via a narrow stalk (arrow) is seen on image A. The air cyst, which is at the level of the thyroid (t) gland, extends inferiorly.


Figure 4
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  		Fig 4. A 63-year-old man involved in an automobile accident. There is a small right-sided paratracheal air cyst (arrow) in the typical location as well as abnormal soft tissue air in the right supraclavicular region (curved arrows). The paratracheal air cyst can be differentiated from the abnormal soft tissue gas in that it communicates with the trachea and is within the wall of the trachea and not adjacent to it.





Copyright © 2009 by the American Society of Neuroradiology. Print ISSN: 0195-6108 Online ISSN: 1936-959X