Chest computed tomograph unknown 1

Anshuman Bansal

JHU SOM

abansal1@jhmi.edu

David Marker

JHU SOM

dmarker@jhmi.edu


Publication Date: 2009-09-04

Findings

A tall patient comes to the ED with some trouble breathing. They get a chest CT. There is an abnormality on the patient's right side.

  1. Can you tell what is abnormal?

    An extra lung lobe

    Try again. The abnormality is in the right lung field.
    Hypertrophy of the right ventricle

    Incorrect.
    Pneumothorax

    Correct, there is air within the pleural cavity. You can see that the lung parenchyma is collapsed where air has taken its place.
    Stab wound

    Incorrect. There is a metallic density outside the patient on the posterior right side, but there is no evidence that this object has penetrated the patient. A stab wound can cause air to enter the pleural cavity but that is not the case here.