With the endotracheal tube down the right main bronchus, why doesn't the left lung stay inflated?
Immediately following right main bronchus intubation, the left lung would be full of air. However, that air is absorbed by the alveoli and the lung collapses relatively quickly.
If you're reporting the film, what should you do?
Pick up the phone and talk to the nursing staff or doctors looking after the patient; most of the time, they will have already seen the film and fixed the problem. However, from time to time, that review doesn't happen immediately and you might help to minimise the time with a mal-placed tube.
What would happen if the tube were pushed in another couple of centimetres?
The right upper lobe would be compromised and collapse since the right upper lobe bronchus splits off the right main bronchus fairly close to the carina.
The endotracheal tube (radio-opaque marker outlined in red dotted line) is beyond the trachea (blue dotted line) and into the right main bronchus. Nasogastric tube (yellow dotted line) seen as separate.