Question

A)When percussing the anterior chest wall, you note a sound that has a thud-like quality with medium intensity and medium-high pitch. What conditions might this tone represent?B) When percussing the anterior chest wall, you note a very loud, booing, drum-like sound upon percussion. What conditions might this tone represent?

Answer 1

A) Percussing the anterior chest wall is a technique for assessing the condition of a patient's chest part by tapping motions with the hands by the nurse in order to produce sounds that could probably specify whether there is any solid or air-filled spaces over the lungs.

A sound noted with moderate intensity, high pitch, moderate duration and thud quality while percussing is called a dull sound and is indicative of dense areas such as the heart or liver. However, this dull sound can also indicate some abnormal lung density like atelectasis, tumour, plural effusion, lobar pneumonia or the presence of some solid mass under the chest surface or around the lungs.

B) When percussing the anterior chest wall, if the nurse notes a very loud, booing, drum-like sound upon percussion, this type of chest sound is called Tympanitic and are of moderate duration. This kind of sound is normal over stomach but if Tympanitic sound is heard over chest, then it is not at all normal and is indicative of excessive air in the chest region which happens during pneumothorax which is also called collapsed lung. It occurs when there is big air leakage in the space between the lung and chest wall.