Catheter drainage of spontaneous pneumothorax: suction or no suction, early or late removal?

Suction or non-suction to the underwater seal drains following pulmonary operation: meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

OBJECTIVES The decision to proceed to simple underwater seal drainage or to apply active suction to the underwater seal following pulmonary operation is a controversial one. For the sake of selecting the alternative to reduce postoperative air leakage, we performed a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to determine the benefit of suction or non-suction following lung surgery on...

Spontaneous pneumothorax. Management by tube thoracostomy and suction.

Re-expansion pulmonary oedema and pleural bleeding following suction drainage of pneumothorax

We report a case of a 26-year-old male with a large left-sided spontaneous pneumothorax, whose manifestations developed 5 days prior to hospitalisation. Suction drainage was complicated by unilateral re-expansion pulmonary oedema (REPO) and bleeding into the left pleural cavity. During thoracotomy oozing of blood from multiple sites on the pleural surface was observed. Both the temporal relatio...

Quantification of aspirated air volume reduces treatment time in pneumothorax.

In 62 consecutive cases of pneumothorax, suction treatment was applied by a new method using a recently-developed vacuum pump (Pleupump) allowing the quantification of the volume of air through the chest drain. The previous 62 cases of pneumothorax treated with standard suction equipment were used as a control group. The new technique resulted in a statistically significant reduction in the mea...

A pilot study of a digital drainage system in pneumothorax

UNLABELLED Over recent years there has been increasing usage of digital systems within cardiothoracic surgery to quantify air leaks and aid in clinical decision-making regarding the removal of chest drains postoperatively. The literature suggests improved agreement on timing of removal of chest drains and a reduced length of stay of patients. It could be that such devices could be useful tools ...