Category: Trauma
Keywords: chest tube, tube thoracostomy, hemothorax, volume (PubMed Search)
Posted: 8/23/2025 by Robert Flint, MD
(Updated: 8/24/2025)
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Over 300 ml of blood on a chest CT in a traumatically injured patient requires a tube thoracostomy. How do you calculate 300 ml of blood on a chest CT?
You use Mergo's formula.

Image B the AP line is what would represent d

1. Blank JJ, de Moya MA. Traumatic pneumothorax and hemothorax: What you need to know. J Trauma Acute Care Surg. 2025 Jul 3. doi: 10.1097/TA.0000000000004692. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40604368.
2. CT-based pleural effusion volume estimation formula demonstrates low accuracy and reproducibility for traumatic hemothorax
Tewkesbury, Grace et al. Injury, Volume 55, Issue 1, 111112