Background The increasing use of thoracic computed
tomography (CT) in trauma patients has led to the recog-nition of intrapleural blood and air that are not initially
evident on admission plain chest X-ray, defining the pres-ence of occult hemopneumothorax. The clinical signif-cance of occult hemopneumothorax, specifically the role of
the tube thoracostomy, is not clearly defined.