BACKGROUND Traditionally chest tubes are set to -20 cm H2O wall suctioning until removal to facilitate drainage of blood, fluid, and air from the pleural or mediastinal space in patients after open heart surgery. However, no clear evidence supports using wall suction in these patients. Some studies in patients after pulmonary surgery indicate that using chest tubes with a water seal is safer, b...

PURPOSE We developed a small-diameter (20-French [Fr]) chest drainage system that incorporates an active tube clearance (ATC) system, and we evaluated its efficacy in an acute hemothorax model. DESCRIPTION The ATC system includes an internal guidewire that can be advanced into the lumen of the chest tube to keep the tube from clogging. In six pigs, a 20-Fr ATC tube was placed on one side and ...

Chest tubes and their accompanying pleural drainage units continue to present challenging questions regarding their optimal use. Appropriate chest tube size selection to accommodate the clinical situation is key, especially in the setting of large pleural air leaks lest a tension pneumothorax ensue. Connection of an appropriate pleural drainage unit to the chest tube is equally important to obv...

BACKGROUND The use of 1 or more mediastinal chest tubes has traditionally been routine for all cardiac surgery procedures to deal with bleeding. However, it remains unproven whether multiple chest tubes offer a benefit over a single chest tube. METHODS All consecutive patients undergoing cardiac surgery (2005-2010) received at least 1 chest tube at the time of surgery based on surgeon prefere...

Iatrogenic pneumothorax has become an increasingly recognized complication of routine outpatient procedures, such as transthoracic needle biopsies of the lung and transbronchial lung biopsies. Patients with clinically significant pneumothorax are typically managed with evacuation via a percutaneously placed catheter or chest tube. Tube thoracotomy and chest tube management have traditionally be...

A 37 - year- old man came to the hospital with a history of penetrating thoracoabdominal trauma due to gunshot wound in 10 days before. He underwent laparatomy and hepatorrhaphy in that time and right sided chest tube was inserted. Chest CT scan revealed metallic foreign body in lung tissue due to bullet burst. Right thoracotomy was performed and metallic foreign body extracted from lung tissue