Chest radiograph unknown 8

Anshuman Bansal

JHU SOM

abansal1@jhmi.edu

David Marker

JHU SOM

dmarker@jhmi.edu


Publication Date: 2009-09-09

Findings

This an PA chest x-ray of a young adult male. The patient presented to the ED with acute shortness of breath.

  1. Based on the radiograph, can you make a diagnosis?

    Pneumonia

    Incorrect. This patient did not exhibit and signs of infection and the chest x-ray shows no consolidation or infiltrates. Try again!
    Pulmonary embolism

    Incorrect. Although acute shortness of breath is a symptom of PE, this chest x-ray shows a different pathology. Try again
    Congestive heart failure

    Incorrect. The heart is of normal size on this chest x-ray.
    Pneumothorax

    Correct! This patient has a large pneumothorax on the left side. You can see that the lung markings on the left side do not extend to the edges of the lung field as they do on the right side. You can also see the collapsed lung around the heart. Good job!