TREATMENT
Management depends not only on the clinical setting, the site where we treat the patient (site of trauma or in the hospital), any procedure which is causing pneumothorax, but also on the size of pneumothorax, associated co-morbid condition, whether it is open/closed and simple/tension pneumothorax.
Method to estimate the correct size of pneumothorax are controversial. There are currently two methods described in adults, if the lateral edge of the lung is >2cm from the thoracic cage. Then, this implies pneumothorax is at least 50% and hence large in size. Calculate the ratio of transverse radius of the pneumothorax (cubed) to the transverse radius of hemithorax (cubed). To express the size as a percentage, multiply the fraction size by 100