Hello and welcome to the zero to finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about pneumothorax.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero to finals.com slash pneumothorax

or in the cardiothoracic surgery section of the zero to finals surgery book.

So let's get straight into it.

A pneumothorax occurs when air gets into the plural space, separating the lung from the chest

wall. It can occur spontaneously, or secondary to trauma, medical interventions, which is known as iotrogenic,

or lung pathology. The typical patient in exams is a tall, thin young man presenting with

sudden breathlessness and pleuritic chest pain, possibly while playing sports.

So what are the causes of pneumothorax?

Well, the causes are spontaneous pneumothorax, trauma,

aiatrogenic, for example,

due to a lung biopsy, mechanical ventilation,

or central line insertion,

and lung pathologies such as infection, asthma or COPD.

Let's talk about the investigations.

An erect chest x-ray is the investigation of choice for diagnosing a simple pneumothorax.

A chest x-ray will show an area between the lung tissue and the chest wall where there are no lung

markings. There will

be a line demarcating the edge of the lung where the lung markings end and the pneumothorax begins.

Measuring the size of the pneumothorax on a chest x-ray can be done according to the

BTS or British Thoracic Society guidelines from 2010.

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