Table 1

Causes of decreased intrathoracic compliance

Causes of decreased measured chest wall compliance
Causes of decreased measured lung compliance

Obesity
Tension pneumothorax
Ascites
Mainstem intubation
Neuromuscular weakness (Guillain–Barre, steroid myopathy, etc.)
Dynamic hyperinflation
Flail chest (mediastinal removal)
Pulmonary edema
Kyphoscoliosis
Pulmonary fibrosis
Fibrothorax
Acute respiratory distress syndrome
Pectus excavatum
Langerhans cell histiocytosis
Chest wall tumor
Hypersensitivity pneumonitis
Paralysis
Connective tissue disorders
Scleroderma
Sarcoidosis

Cryptogenic organizing pneumonitis

Lymphangitic spread of tumor

Shown are the causes of decreased intrathoracic compliance, partitioned into causes of decreased measured chest wall compliance and causes of decreased measured lung compliance.

Grinnan and Truwit Critical Care 2005 9:472   doi:10.1186/cc3516