A59-year-old male with a history of emphysema complains of an acute worsening of his dyspnea and pleuritic chest pain following a forceful cough. your assessment reveals that he has a barrel-shaped chest, unilaterally diminished breath sounds, and tachycardia. what is the most likely cause of this patient's condition? select one:
a. exacerbation of his copdb. acute pulmonary embolismc. spontaneous pneumothoraxd. rupture of the diaphragm

C) Spontaneous pneumothorax

Explanation:

Emphysema is a long term disease of the lungs caused by the over-inflation of the alveolar sacs. The disease is progressive in nature and thus could be the cause of the other chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

In the given question the patient shows the symptoms like barrel-shaped chest that is the lung cannot expand as much as it does normally.

This barrel shape of the lung is due to the sudden collapse of the lungs like the rupture of the alveolar sacs. The inhaled air gets leaked in the lungs.  This condition is known as Spontaneous pneumothorax.

Thus, Option-C is the correct answer.

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