Lung point Case 005
This thin young man presented with left sided sharp chest pain worse on deep inspiration.
You take a quick look on either side for pneumothorax. What do you see?
View 2
Reveal Answer
These are normal views, they demonstrate lung sliding with no evidence of pneumothorax.
The first clip shows the lung sliding against the pleural surface on the left and the heart rhythmically beating and moving in and out of view with each respiratory cycle.
The term “heart point” is occasionally used to define the point between the moving heart and a pneumothorax. Do not confuse this with the point between the moving heart and normal sliding lung – which looks very similar. To tell the difference do not focus on the junction between heart and lung, but rather look for lung sliding against the pleural surface.
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An Emergency physician based in Perth, Western Australia. Professionally my passion lies in integrating advanced diagnostic and procedural ultrasound into clinical assessment and management of the undifferentiated patient. Sharing hard fought knowledge with innovative educational techniques to ensure knowledge translation and dissemination is my goal. Family, wild coastlines, native forests, and tinkering in the shed fills the rest of my contented time. | SonoCPD | Ultrasound library | Top 100 | @thesonocave |