What happens in tension pneumothorax?
What happens in tension pneumothorax?
Tension pneumothorax occurs when air accumulates between the chest wall and the lung and increases pressure in the chest, reducing the amount of blood returned to the heart. Symptoms include chest pain, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, and a racing heart, followed by shock.
What is the most common cause of tension pneumothorax?
What causes tension pneumothorax? Tension pneumothorax can develop from any type of pneumothorax. However, it is most commonly seen after a traumatic chest injury or in individuals breathing through mechanical ventilation.
Which is a symptom of tension pneumothorax?
Symptoms and signs include chest pain that has a sudden or sharp onset, shortness of breath, rapid breathing, and rapid heart rate. Tension pneumothorax is a potentially life-threatening condition that medical professionals must treat as a medical emergency.
Is a tension pneumothorax a collapsed lung?
A pneumothorax (noo-moe-THOR-aks) is a collapsed lung. A pneumothorax occurs when air leaks into the space between your lung and chest wall. This air pushes on the outside of your lung and makes it collapse. A pneumothorax can be a complete lung collapse or a collapse of only a portion of the lung.
How is a tension pneumothorax diagnosed?
A pneumothorax is generally diagnosed using a chest X-ray. In some cases, a computerized tomography (CT) scan may be needed to provide more-detailed images. Ultrasound imaging also may be used to identify a pneumothorax.
Why does tension pneumothorax happen?
A tension pneumothorax is a life-threatening condition that develops when air is trapped in the pleural cavity under positive pressure, displacing mediastinal structures and compromising cardiopulmonary function.
How do you handle tension pneumothorax?
Treatment of tension pneumothorax is immediate needle decompression by inserting a large-bore (eg, 14- or 16-gauge) needle into the 2nd intercostal space in the midclavicular line. Air will usually gush out.
How common is tension pneumothorax?
It has been known that the incidence of tension pneumothorax is rare. In 1965, Mills and Baisch reported 14 cases of tension pneumothorax (3.5%) among 400 cases of spontaneous pneumothorax [7]. Since then, the incidence of tension pneumothorax has been variably reported as 0.5%–35.9% [7-13].
How do you treat a tension pneumothorax?
What is the difference between cardiac tamponade and tension pneumothorax?
Pearl of wisdom: Only cardiac tamponade and tension pneumothorax produce jugular venous distention with a chest injury. How you tell the difference is by auscultating the lungs. Tamponade will typically reveal clear, bilateral, lung sounds while a tension pneumothorax will not.
How do you fix a tension pneumothorax?
