Traube Space

TRAUBE SPACE is a crescent-shaped area in the lower part of the left half of the chest wall, having a shape resembling a crescent and giving a tympanic sound on percussion. The Traube space corresponds to the anterior part of the left costodiaphragmatic sinus of the pleura. It is bounded on the right by the left edge of the liver, on the left by the spleen, below by the edge of the costal arch, above by the lower edge of the lung, and is located in front of the air-containing fundus of the stomach and the adjacent part of the large intestine; the latter two structures cause the tympanic sound over the Traube space. The size of the Traube space can decrease (up to its complete disappearance) or increase in various directions depending on various pathological processes in the pleural space and in adjacent organs. Thus, with enlargement of the liver or spleen, the Traube space decreases in the horizontal direction, while in exudative pleurisy and hydrothorax, it increases in the vertical direction (from top to bottom). In the latter case, with a relatively small amount of fluid, percussion gives a band of dullness directly below the clear lung sound, and even lower - an area of tympanic sound; as the amount of fluid increases and the diaphragm is pushed downward, the Traube space may give a completely dull sound. With fluid accumulation in the pericardial cavity, the Traube space can significantly decrease (from top to bottom) in its middle part; it also decreases in subdiaphragmatic abscess. Conversely, with insufficient expansion of the left lung after absorption of exudate and with a high position of the diaphragm, the Traube space increases in its vertical dimension. Determining the size and shape of the Traube space has considerable diagnostic significance. It is only necessary when evaluating the corresponding data to take into account the state of filling of the stomach and the adjacent part of the large intestine, since their filling with more or less dense masses or fluid gives a dull tone over the Traube space, but in this case the dullness is of an unstable nature, disappearing after food passes into the small intestine or after defecation.