Pneumothorax

Diagnosis

Your doctor may suspect you have a collapsed lung if you suddenly develop shortness of breath or chest pain, especially if you have had trauma to the chest. He or she will ask about your symptoms, your medical history and your smoking habits.

Your doctor will examine you, focusing on your general appearance, your vital signs (temperature, pulse, breath rate, blood pressure), and your heart and breath sounds. The following signs can indicate that you have a collapsed lung:

• Low blood pressure

• Rapid heart rate

• Low levels of blood oxygen

• Loss of normal breath sounds in the part of the chest where the lung is deflated

• A hollow sound when the fingers are tapped on part of the chest

• A shift in the normal location of heart sounds

A chest X-ray is the best way to confirm that you have a collapsed lung. The X-ray will show the collapsed lung as a dark area in the chest. A computed tomography (CT) scan may be needed in some cases to find a small collapsed area of a lung or for people with extensive lung disease.

Your doctor may check the oxygen level in your blood with a handheld device called a pulse oximeter or may draw blood from an artery in the wrist (an arterial blood gas test) to directly measure the levels of oxygen and carbon dioxide in your blood. He or she also may order an electrocardiogram (EKG), an electrical test of the heart.

Expected Duration

Once the cause of a collapsed lung is treated, it usually will return to normal within 48 to 72 hours. Recovering from a collapsed lung may take up to several weeks.