Straight left heart border sign

Last revised by Craig Hacking on 13 Feb 2019

Straight left heart border sign is a recently described finding on chest radiograph. It is a fairly specific (84%) sign of hemopericardium after a penetrating chest trauma, although sensitivity at 40% is relatively poor. Positive predictive value (PPV) was found to be 89% 1.

It is different to the flat waist sign of the left heart border seen in left lower lobe collapse.

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