The hemothorax is the accumulation of blood in the space between the chest wall and the lung (the pleural cavity).
The most common cause of hemothorax is chest trauma. Hemothorax may also occur in people who have: a defect in blood clotting, chest (thoracic) or heart surgery, death of lung tissue (pulmonary infarction), lung or pleural cancer - either primary or secondary (metastatic or otherwise), rupture in a blood vessel when a central venous catheter is placed, or when associated with severe high blood pressure or tuberculosis.
