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barotrauma
(bar″o-traw´mә)
injury caused by pressure differences between the external environment and the inside of a bodily structure. Seen with structures
of the ear, in high altitude flyers and others (see barotitis media and barosinusitis). In the lung it is caused by excessive airway pressures, resulting in extra-alveolar air, as in pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum, or pneumoperitoneum.

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