Comparison of catheter types shows that fenestrated options improve outcomes in tension pneumothorax treatment, indicating a need for reevaluation of standard practices.
OBJECTIVES Tension pneumothorax (tPTX) is the third leading cause of preventable death on the battlefield. Needle thoracostomy (NT) is the standard prehospital treatment; however, the optimal catheter characteristics are unknown. This study compares the efficacy of NT using 3.25-inch 14ga and 3.25-inch 10ga, non-fenestrated and fenestrated catheters in a tPTX model.
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Kruse et al. (2025) studied this question.
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