is the trachea deviated to side of collapse? is it hyperresonant on the side of collapsed lung? (tension pneumothorax is opposite, right?)
sorry, couldn't find info online
TENSION PNEUMOTHORAX:
Let's think about the pathophysiology here. Now, we know that the intrapleural space is negative relative to atmosphere. What does this mean? Air would love to get in there, but it can't, unless you pop a hole in the chest giving air access to this pleural space.
To recap thus far: the intrapleural space (the region between the 'skin' that covers the lung and the skin that covers the inner chest) is negative. When you stab someone, air gushes into this space. What happens now? As air gets in this space, it creates pressure in that side (that side becomes the same as the atmosphre, while the other side is still negative, so relatively greater pressure), and then it gets bigger. Make sense? If not, make sure it does. Now, since the side with the stab wound is getting bigger, it is going to push against the mediastinum and other midline structures. Wait, the trachea is a midline structure. So this side that is getting bigger is pushing the trachea, hence the term contralateral tracheal deviation.
Now, let's think of the concept of hyperresonance. Picture two drums (tablas if you will). One drum is empty, one drum is full of water. Which drum will 'resonate' louder? The empty one, of course. So, when you have a tension pneumothorax, you have an empty half of the thorax, so like a drum, it will resonate. This will obviously be ipsilateral, since the drum is on the same side.
Hope this helps
