Pneumothorax Then and Now

Abstract

This article begins with a photograph of the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Montreal depicting the induction of a pneumothorax, a treatment for tuberculosis (TB) used from the 1920s to the 1940s. The authors place the photograph in historical context and review the contents of the room it shows, including a patient’s chest X ray. Building on Martha Langford’s Suspended Conversations, the authors examine the use of such photographic and X ray images in depictions of TB care in the mid-20th century. The authors parallel the spaces shown explicitly (the treatment facility) with those shown implicitly (the chest cavity) and then juxtapose these historical images with those of medical thoracoscopy, a current technique for visualizing chest disease that likewise begins with pneumothorax. Finally, the authors consider the changing audience for these images by highlighting the evolving role of the patient as actor and consumer rather than as passive recipient of health care expertise.