A 25-year-old male presented to the Accident and Emergency Department with a three-day history of
pleuritic, lright-sided chest pain and increasing breathlessness. The symptoms started suddenly while he was playing football. He denied any chest trauma. Until then he had been fit and well, and there was no past medical history of note. His father died suddenly at the age of 32 years.
On examination he was thin and tall and distressed with pain. There was no pallor or cyanosis. He had a wide arm span. The heart rate was 100 beats/min and blood pressure 150/80 mmHg. The respiratory rate was 32/min. The trachea was deviated to the left. Percussion appeared to be reduced on the left side and was loud on the right side. The right lung base was dull to percussion. On auscultation of the lung fields breath sounds were absent on the right side and normal on the left side. Auscultation of the precordium demonstrated
quiet heart sounds and a soft mid-systolic murmur. The femoral pulses were easily palpable. The left calf was bruised and slightly tender. He attributed this to an injury sustained during the football match. The ECG revealed normal sinus rhythm.
1. Which test would you perform to reach a diagnosis?
Answer: Chest X ray.
The chest X ray is shown below:
The X ray Shows a large pneumothorax on the right side with a collapsed lung (arrows).