Lung herniation is a relatively rare clinical entity that is most commonly either congenital or acquired traumatically. We describe a case of spontaneous lung herniation secondary to acute cough in an obese male smoker complicated by contralateral acute lung injury and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS). Mechanisms of lung herniation, classification, diagnosis, and management will be discussed.
Keywords: SIRS; lung hernia; lung herniation; spontaneous; systemic inflammatory response syndrome; thorax.