Loading...
For tension pneumothorax, Advanced Trauma Life Support guidelines recommend insertion of a large-caliber needle into the second intercostal space in the midclavicular line, followed by removal of the needle with the catheter left in place. However, reported failure rates with this approach have been as high as 40% in prehospital studies. To determine whether the high failure rate is a result of inadequate needle length (the 14-gauge needle is 5 cm long and its catheter is 4.5 cm long), researchers retrospectively measured chest-wall thickness in 774 adult trauma patients who underwent chest computed tomography (CT) at a single trauma center in Canada between 2001 and 2004.
Researchers used the CT scans to measure right and left chest-wall th…