Crossword clues for pneumothorax
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Pneumothorax \Pneu`mo*tho"rax\, n. [Gr. ? air + E. thorax.] (Med.) A condition in which air or other gas is present in the cavity of the chest; -- called also pneumatothorax.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Wiktionary
n. (context medicine English) Presence of air inside the pleural cavity, usually caused by injury either to the lung or the chest wall.
WordNet
n. abnormal presence of air in the pleural cavity resulting in the collapse of the lung; may be spontaneous (due to injury to the chest) or induced (as a treatment for tuberculosis)
Wikipedia
A pneumothorax (pneumo- + thorax; plural pneumothoraces) is an abnormal collection of air or gas in the pleural space that causes an uncoupling of the lung from the chest wall. Like pleural effusion (liquid buildup in that space), pneumothorax may interfere with normal breathing. It is often called collapsed lung, although that term may also refer to atelectasis. One or both lungs may be affected.
A primary pneumothorax is one that occurs spontaneously without an apparent cause and in the absence of significant lung disease, while a secondary pneumothorax occurs in the presence of existing lung pathology. Pneumothoraces can be caused by physical trauma to the chest (including blast injury), or as a complication of medical or surgical intervention; in this case it is referred to as a traumatic pneumothorax. In a minority of cases of both spontaneous or traumatic pneumothorax, the amount of air in the chest increases markedly when a one-way valve is formed by an area of damaged tissue, leading to a tension pneumothorax. This condition is a medical emergency that can cause steadily worsening oxygen shortage and low blood pressure. Unless reversed by effective treatment, these sequelae can progress and cause death.
Symptoms typically include chest pain and shortness of breath. Diagnosis of a pneumothorax by physical examination alone can be difficult or inconclusive (particularly in smaller pneumothoraces), so a chest radiograph or computed tomography (CT) scan is usually used to confirm its presence.
Small spontaneous pneumothoraces typically resolve without treatment and require only monitoring. This approach may be most appropriate in subjects who have no significant underlying lung disease. In larger pneumothoraces, or when there are marked symptoms, the air may be extracted with a syringe or a chest tube connected to a one-way valve system. Occasionally, surgical interventions may be required when tube drainage is unsuccessful, or as a preventive measure, if there have been repeated episodes. The surgical treatments usually involve pleurodesis (in which the layers of pleura are induced to stick together) or pleurectomy (the surgical removal of pleural membranes).
Usage examples of "pneumothorax".
They have formed a group, for of course a thing like the pneumothorax brings people together.
The Kleefeld girl had just been whistling at me with her pneumothorax, I hardly knew where I was.
The pneumothorax, that newest triumph of modern surgical technique, so rapidly become popular, had been brilliantly successful in her case.
The younger talked of life up here, of the events the changing seasons brought in their course, of various personalities among the patients, of the pneumothorax, the functioning of which he explained at length, describing the ghastly nature of the pleura-shock, and citing the case of the good-natured Herr Ferge, with the three-coloured fainting-fits, the hallucinatory stench, and the diabolic laughing-fit when they felt over the pleura.
Ribs splintered, which probably caused the pneumothorax and liver laceration.
Massive head injury, multiple rib fractures, a tension pneumothorax of the right lung, two fractured femurs, and a fractured pelvis.
He had been thrown from the car and lay upon the pavement, a massive, well-muscled individual with a bubbly pneumothorax, heavy arterial bleeding, numerous lesser lacerations, a possibly broken back, and fractured skull.
I slapped a cover on the pneumothorax and moved to deal with the bleeding a familiar figure was suddenly beside me.
Theoretically, the yell collapses the lungs-acceleration pneumothorax, the books call it-and keeps them collapsed until the surge of powered flight is over.
The splintering bone had punctured her lung, the resulting pneumothorax collapsing almost two-thirds of that lung.
Notwithstanding subsequent pneumothorax and extensive pleuritic effusion, the patient made a good recovery at the end of the fourth week and at the time of report it was still uncertain whether the needle remained in the heart or had wandered into the mediastinum.
He knew it was highly improbable that we were looking for projectiles or broken bones, but what an X-ray might reveal was pneumothorax or a mediastinal shift caused by air leaking from lungs due to barotrauma.
That means we're probably dealing with a pneumothorax, maybe a hemopneumothorax, which is blood as well as air building up in the chest cavity.