Chest trauma

Trauma is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Despite the advent of specialised trauma centres the outcome of patients who sustain major trauma remains disappointing. Plain radiography and more advanced imaging techniques such as ultrasound, computerised tomography (CT) and angiography, have a major role to play in the early decision making and subsequent management of patients who sustain polytrauma. This article discusses the choice of emergency imaging techniques available in chest trauma for clinicians and radiologists; their evaluation and some of the common pitfalls that may lead to errors of interpretation.