Prehospital diagnostic performance of emergency physicians in identifying blunt traumatic pneumothorax requiring early decompression

Prehospital clinical assessment alone had limited diagnostic performance for detecting blunt traumatic pneumothorax requiring early decompression. A simple clinical composite score offers higher specificity but remains insufficiently sensitive to be used as a standalone diagnostic tool; it may support field decision-making as a risk-stratification aid, but prehospital clinical signs alone are not sufficient to rule out a pneumothorax requiring early decompression.