Study Design Systematic review. Objective Determine whether closed suction wound drains decrease the incidence of postoperative complications compared with no drain use in patients undergoing spine surgery for lumbar degenerative conditions. Methods Electronic databases and reference lists of key articles were searched up through January 22, 2015, to identify studies comparing the use of closed...

A one-year-old child operated on for arachnoid cyst in right frontoparietotemporal region had sudden bradycardia followed by cardiac arrest leading to death after connecting negative pressure to the subgaleal drain during craniotomy closure. The surgical procedure was uneventful. It is a common practice to place epidural or subgaleal drains connected to a vacuum system towards the end of cranio...

INTRODUCTION Controversy still surrounds the use of drains after total knee replacement (TKR). We compared closed suction drains, reinfusion drains and no drains by studying haemoglobin (Hb) levels, blood transfusion requirements and functional knee outcome scores in a single surgeon series. METHODS A total of 102 consecutive primary TKRs were performed by the senior author between September ...

Symptomatic epidural haematoma after cervical laminoplasty is rare. We report 3 patients who required emergency evacuation of an epidural haematoma. Timely diagnosis and removal of the haematoma is important to prevent neurological deficits. The causative factors in these patients were preoperative coagulopathy, hypertension, and the malfunction of a closed-suction drain.

The authors report a simple technique for effective management of surgical drains and their reliable removal in elective hip and knee arthroplasty. Many surgeons use surgical drains for elective total hip and knee arthroplasties and instruct residents in their use despite limited evidence to support routine use of surgical drains in noninfected cases. There are many different types of drains an...

Introduction: Surgical treatment is the usual therapy for patients with polycystic liver disease and with severe symptoms, yet the results of surgery are often disappointing and the optimal surgical approach is uncertain. Case presentation: We present the case of a 41-year-old Greek woman who underwent combined left hepatectomy with fenestration for symptomatic polycystic liver disease using ul...

A patient who underwent lumbar spine surgery sustained an occult dural injury. After unrecognized suction drainage of cerebrospinal fluid through a surgical drain, caudal herniation of the cerebellum with superior cerebellar infarction developed. This mechanism should be considered in patients in whom acute mental status changes develop after spinal surgery.