Upper lobe consolidation

Pleural metastases

Right Subpulmonic pleural effusion

RML pneumonia

RLL atelectasis. Not loss of right heart border silhouette

RML lobar pneumonia

The quickest way to diagnose a pneumothorax

is with a chest x-ray. There are several things you should look for when attempting to diagnose a
pneumothorax based on an x-ray.

The first is absence of lung markings. However, this is not a fool proof system because lung markings
may be absent in other diseases of the lung such as bullae. You also need to see a white line that
parallels the chest wall. This is known as the "pleural white line", which represents separation of the
visceral and parietal pleura. Additionally, in a tension pneumothorax the heart structures and
trachea will deviate away from the pneumothorax.