Being in car accident may cause the steering wheel to hit you very forcefully in the chest. If the damage is severe enough, the ribs may break and puncture the thoracic cavity. What is such an injury called, and what would have been the symptoms and the anatomical injuries?

What will be an ideal response?


The rib would have entered the pleural cavity, and could have caused pneumothorax, an entrance of air into the chest cavity. This could have caused the lung on that side to deflate, which would have made respiration for the hero more difficult. The lung on the side of the injury might have been cut, which would have caused bleeding into the chest (hydropneumothorax) or out of the wound opening. In any case, bubbles would be observed at the site of the opening of the injury, and breathing would become labored. In real life such an injury would require an immediate trip to a hospital emergency room.

Anatomy & Physiology

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Describe the gross anatomy of the thymus

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Anatomy & Physiology