This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Pneumothorax(open)

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

An open pneumothorax develops when the skin and parietal pleura are broken in an open injury. The pleural cavity communicates with the outside air which is sucked in and out of the chest during respiration, often quite audibly.

Untreated, gross respiratory embarrassment develops as the the lung fails to inflate. Infection is a possibility but the risk may be minimised by keeping the lung expanded so as to obliterate the pleural space.


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.