What causes pneumothorax?

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Multiple Choice

What causes pneumothorax?

Explanation:
Pneumothorax happens when air enters the pleural cavity, the space between the lung and chest wall. Normally that space has negative pressure that helps keep the lung expanded against the chest. When air leaks into that space, the pressure balance is lost, the lung can’t stay fully inflated, and it may collapse partially or completely. This can occur spontaneously from ruptured air sacs, due to trauma, or as a complication of certain medical procedures. The other options don’t describe this situation: blood in the pleural space is a hemothorax; air in the trachea is an airway problem, not air in the pleural space; diaphragm contraction doesn’t introduce air into the pleural cavity.

Pneumothorax happens when air enters the pleural cavity, the space between the lung and chest wall. Normally that space has negative pressure that helps keep the lung expanded against the chest. When air leaks into that space, the pressure balance is lost, the lung can’t stay fully inflated, and it may collapse partially or completely. This can occur spontaneously from ruptured air sacs, due to trauma, or as a complication of certain medical procedures.

The other options don’t describe this situation: blood in the pleural space is a hemothorax; air in the trachea is an airway problem, not air in the pleural space; diaphragm contraction doesn’t introduce air into the pleural cavity.

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