Fig. 10

A 54-year- old-male status post aortic aneurysm repair presented with a persistent left pneumothorax. On axial (a) and coronal (b) CT images, air surrounds the portion of the chest tube coursing through the chest wall (arrows). This indicates an incomplete seal. If the site of thoracotomy is not optimally occluded with surgical dressing, or if the incision is too large relative to the tube, an air leak may develop. This leak allows air back into the pleural space during inspiration and results in a nonresolving pneumothorax