Traumatic Pneumothorax: Updates in Diagnosis and Management in the Emergency Department - Trauma EXTRA Supplement

Points & Pearls Excerpt

• A systematic approach allows for rapid assessment to determine the severity of the injuries. As standard practice, the initial assessment should begin with the primary survey, assessing the patient’s ABCDEs: airway, breathing, circulation, disability, and exposure.
• When assessing breathing, pneumothorax should be suspected if the patient is tachypneic, dyspneic, or hypoxic, or has increased work of breathing with use of accessory muscles. Supplemental oxygen should be administered if oxygen saturation is low.
• On a plain chest film, pneumothorax ap-pears as increased lucency of lung fields with a pleural line, which appears as a clearly demarcated line with air on either side.