05-16-2007, 07:38 AM
A 19-year-old man sustains multiple injuries in a high-speed automobile collision. There is a pneumothorax on the left, for which he has a chest tube placed. Over the next several days, a large amount of air drains continuously through the tube (a large "air leak"), and daily chest x-rays show that his collapsed left lung is not expanding. The patient is not on a respirator. Which of the following is the most likely cause of these findings?
a) Air embolism
b)Injury to the lung parenchyma
c)Injury to a major bronchus
d)Insufficient suction being applied to the chest tube
e)Tension pneumothorax
a) Air embolism
b)Injury to the lung parenchyma
c)Injury to a major bronchus
d)Insufficient suction being applied to the chest tube
e)Tension pneumothorax