It’s an activity that many people enjoy after a few drinks, but one man’s karaoke experience ended in disaster last week.
The 65-year-old man, who is known only by his surname, Wang, suffered a collapsed lung after performing 10 karaoke songs in a row.
According to the South China Morning Post , the man visited a hospital in Nanchang county after experiencing chest pains and difficulty breathing.
Doctors found that his lung had collapsed due to a condition known as pneumothorax.
Speaking to the South China Morning Post, Dr Peng Bin-fei, a doctor involved in the case, explained that his lung collapsed ‘because of the high lung pressure caused by singing high notes.’
A pneumothorax is when air builds up between the outside of your lung and ribcage.
The British Lung Foundation explained: “The air can come from your lung or from outside your body if there’s a serious injury to the chest.
“A pneumothorax caused by leaks of air from the lungs is more common in people with a lung condition such as asthma or cystic fibrosis. But it can occur in people who are otherwise completely healthy.”
But before you hang up your karaoke microphone for good, thankfully the British Lung Foundation added that the condition is very rare, and fairly easy to treat.
It added: “The treatment of a pneumothorax depends on its size and whether it’s expanding. If it’s small, no treatment may be needed. If it’s large, it will need to be drained using a syringe or a chest tube.”
