Provided is a micropower impulse radar (MIR) pneumothorax detector. The detector includes a processor and a handheld MIR scanner. The handheld MIR scanner includes a device housing, an antenna located within the device housing, circuitry that generates MIR signals, and circuitry that processes received echoes of the MIR signals and provides the processed received echoes to the processor. The processor automatically determines whether a pneumothorax is present based on the processed received echoes of the MIR signals.
