Hand-held portable sonography for the on-mountain exclusion of a pneumothorax

Abstract

Pneumothoraces are the most common serious intrathoracic injury following blunt trauma1 and are a common cause of preventable morbidity and mortality. Medical personnel responding to an injured patient in a hostile environment must quickly assess the victim and attempt to exclude potentially life-threatening injuries without the benefit of standard imaging modalities, such as radiography. The recent availability of lightweight portable ultrasound units that can easily be carried by emergency medical personnel adds this adjunct to prehospital care.