What does Hemithorax mean in medical terms?
Hemithorax: Half of the thorax or, more simply, one side of the chest.
Where is the Hemithorax?
Hemothorax is a collection of blood in the space between the chest wall and the lung (the pleural cavity).
What is Hemithorax opacification?
A Hemithorax White-Out with the Trachea Pulled Towards the White-Out. Several conditions can cause a complete white-out of half of the chest cavity on the chest x-ray which all share one feature, i.e. the loss of lung volume on the affected side.
What causes Hemithorax?
By far the most common cause of hemothorax is trauma. Penetrating injuries of the lungs, heart, great vessels, or chest wall are obvious causes of hemothorax; they may be accidental, deliberate, or iatrogenic in origin.
Why is hemothorax bad?
Empyema results from bacterial contamination of the retained hemothorax. If undetected or improperly treated, this can lead to bacteremia and septic shock. Fibrothorax results when fibrin deposition develops in an organized hemothorax and coats both the parietal and visceral pleural surfaces.
What causes complete opacification of lung?
Hemithorax opacification on chest X-ray has four potential causes: collapse (atelectasis) of an entire lung; pleural effusion; consolidation; and post-pneumonectomy. In atelectasis, there is volume loss of the affected lung resulting in mediastinal shift towards the opacification.
What is the treatment for a hemothorax?
The most important treatment for hemothorax is draining the blood out of your chest cavity. Your doctor will likely put a tube through your chest muscles and tissues, through your ribs, and into your chest cavity to drain any pooled blood, fluid, or air. This is called a thoracentesis or thoracostomy.
How long does a hemothorax take to heal?
It will take about 3 to 4 weeks for your incision to heal completely. It may leave a small scar that will fade with time.
How is hemothorax treated?
What causes unilateral hyperlucent hemithorax in the chest?
Unilateral hyperlucent hemithorax is primarily caused by conditions involving the pulmonary parenchyma, airway, pulmonary vasculature, pleural space, and chest wall, as well as technical factors such as patient rotation (Table).
Where is the hemithorax located in the body?
Symptoms of hemithorax include chest pain and a rapid heart rate. The thorax is the chest area of the body, positioned between the neck and abdomen. The boundaries of this region are drawn by the ribs, sternum, and the thoracic vertebrae, also known as the dorsal vertebrae.
Which is bigger the right lung or the left hemithorax?
The left hemithorax contains both the heart and the left lung. The left lung is smaller than the right lung because it has to make room for the heart. The right lung is basically alone in the right hemithorax and so can take up more space. In some rare cases, other organs are displaced in the thorax.