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Disclaimer 12. Stevens RL, Rochester AA, Busko J, et al. Needle thoracostomy
The views expressed are those of the authors and do not neces- for tension pneumothorax: failure predicted by chest computed
sarily reflect the official policy of the Department of the Navy, tomography. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2009;13(1):14–17.
Department of Defense, or the US Government. The authors 13. Harcke HT, Mabry RL, Mazuchowski EL. Needle thoracentesis
are military Servicemembers. This work was prepared as part decompression: observations from postmortem computed tomog-
of official duties. Title 17, USC, Section 105, provides that raphy and autopsy. J Spec Oper Med. 2013;13(4):53–58.
copyright protection under this title is not available for any 14. Leatherman ML, Fluke LM, McEvoy CS, et al. Bigger is better:
comparison of alternative devices for tension hemopneumotho-
work of the US Government. Title 17, USC, Section 101, de- rax and pulseless electrical activity in a Yorkshire swine model. J
fines a US Government work as a work prepared by a military Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2017.
Servicemember or employee of the US Government as part of 15. Leatherman ML, Held JM, Fluke LM, et al. Relative device sta-
that person’s official duties. bility of anterior versus axillary needle decompression for tension
pneumothorax during casualty movement: preliminary analysis
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Disclosures Suppl 1):S136–S141.
The authors have no financial conflicts of interest to disclose. 16. Inaba K, Branco BC, Eckstein M, et al. Optimal positioning for
Drs. Fluke and Polk have received past grant funding from emergent needle thoracostomy: a cadaver-based study. J Trauma.
H&H Medical Corporation for investigations related to the 2011;71(5):1099–1103.
modified Veress needle device used in the current study; how- 17. Aho JM, Thiels CA, El Khatib MM, et al. Needle thoracostomy:
ever, no industry funds were expended for this study. clinical effectiveness is improved using a longer angiocatheter. J
Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2016;80(2):272–277.
18. Prometheus Deltatech. Russell Pneumofix. http://www.pro-
Author Contributions metheusdeltatech.com/product/russell-pneumofix/.
CSM had primary responsibility for this manuscript. As such 19. Chen J, Nadler R, Schwartz D, et al. Needle thoracostomy for
he contributed to the literature search, data analysis, data in- tension pneumothorax: the Israeli Defense Forces experience.
terpretation, writing, and critical revision of the manuscript. Can J Surg. 2015;58(3 Suppl 3):S118–124.
MLL and RLR contributed to the literature search, data col- 20. Inaba K, Karamanos E, Skiada D, et al. Cadaveric comparison
lection, data analysis and writing of the manuscript, and coor- of the optimal site for needle decompression of tension pneumo-
dination of the study. JMH contributed to the data collection, thorax by prehospital care providers. J Trauma Acute Care Surg.
2015;79(6):1044–1048.
writing of the manuscript, and coordination of the study. LMF 21. Defense Health Board. Needle Decompression of Tension
contributed to the literature search, data collection, data anal- Pneumothorax-Tactical Combat Casualty Care Guideline Rec-
ysis, and writing. TMP designed the study and secured funding ommendations 2012-05. http://www.health.mil/About-MHS
for it; he also assisted with data collection, data analysis, data /Defense-Health-Agency/Special-Staff/Defense-Health-Board
interpretation, as well as the writing and critical revision of /Reports. Accessed 30 October 2016.
the manuscript. All authors contributed to final revision of the 22. Carter TE, Mortensen CD, Kaistha S, et al. Needle decompres-
sion in Appalachia– do obese patients need longer needles? West
manuscript. J Emerg Med. 2013;14(6):650–652.

22 | JSOM Volume 18, Edition 4 / Winter 2018