The volume of critically ill patients requiring stabilization in emergency departments (EDs) throughout the USA has increased from 42 million per year in 1960 to over 92 million in 1990, as reported by Goldstein [Crit Care Clinics 21(1):81-89, 2005] and Rivers et al. [Curr Opin Crit Care 8(6):600-606, 2002]. With the increase in this patient population, the number of procedures, both invasive and noninvasive, performed in the ED to improve clinical outcomes has also increased. Therefore, emergency medicine physicians must add to their repertoire the ability to recognize potentially fatal traumatic complications. This review will provide readers with imaging findings of traumatic complications from placement of thoracic catheters and tubes and briefly discuss pitfalls of performing these procedures. In particular, complications arising from placement of hemodialysis catheters, central venous catheters, Swan-Ganz catheters, chest tubes, nasogastric and feeding tubes, and endotracheal tubes will be reviewed.