A Young Man with Chest Pain: When POCUS Makes the Difference

A healthy 25-year-old male with no significant past medical history presented to a rural clinic with sudden-onset, sharp right-sided chest pain that began earlier in the day while walking. The pain was pleuritic, but he denied shortness of breath, fever, trauma, or recent illness. On physical exam, his vitals were normal, lung sounds were clear bilaterally, and there was no chest wall tenderness or crepitus. An EKG was performed and found to be normal. With no chest X-ray available onsite, the provider performed a point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) of the lungs.