Chest Trauma

When the chest wall or pleura is broken open · Week 12
The lungs stay inflated because they are sealed inside the pleural space. That space is two smooth layers with a vacuum between them. Break the seal with air, blood, or crushed ribs, and the lung collapses. One version, tension pneumothorax, is a true emergency. Click each injury.

The chest, front view

Here are two lungs inside the rib cage, with the heart and trachea in the middle. Watch what collapses, and which way things shift.
Pick an injury to see the chest.
Pick an injuryNormal · Pneumo · Tension · Hemo · Flail

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What's happening

⚠ MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Air keeps getting into the pleural space with every breath, and it cannot get back out. Pressure builds and squeezes the heart and the big veins, so blood cannot get back to the heart. Signs: low blood pressure, a fast heart rate, the trachea pushed toward the good side, bulging neck veins (JVD), and no breath sounds on one side. This needs needle decompression right away.