Presentation
Fall off garden decking.
Patient Data
Age: 65 years
Gender: Male
Supine AP
Supine chest x-ray in a trauma patient who is significantly rotated. This produces artefactually reduced volume and increased density of the right hemithorax which could easily be misinterpreted as a sign of injury.
Case Discussion
Trauma radiographs are very susceptible to rotational effects due to the difficult imaging environment. In this rotated patient, there is artifactual reduced volume and increased density of the right hemithorax compared to the left which could be misinterpreted as a sign of injury. This patient had no chest abnormality seen on subsequent CT, but had sustained an L1 superior endplate compression fracture.
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