This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Go to /pro/cpd-dashboard page

This page is worth 0.05 CPD credits. CPD dashboard

Go to /account/subscription-details page

This page is worth 0.05 CPD credits. Upgrade to Pro

Pneumothorax

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

A pneumothorax is air or gas in the pleural space (between the parietal and visceral pleura) (1).

  • the term ‘pneumothorax’ was first used in 1803 and later in 1819. At that time most cases were secondary to tuberculosis (2)
  • a generalized pneumothorax results when a whole hemithorax contains air. A localized pneumothorax occurs when the visceral and parietal pleurae have become adherent.

In England, the annual consultation rates for pneumothorax between 1991 and 1995 were 24/100 000 for men and 9.8/100 000 for women, and admission rates were 16.7/100 000 and 5.8/100 000, respectively (3).

Reference:


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.