Affiliation:
1. Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, Richmond, Virginia
Abstract
Between 2 and 4.4 per cent of all patients with trauma chest tubes develop retained hemothoraces. Retained hemothoraces prolong chest tube duration and hospital length of stay, and increase infectious complications like empyema. Early surgical drainage of retained hemothoraces has been shown to decrease complications and reduce hospital length of stay. However, the high resource and expertise requirement may limit the widespread applicability of surgical drainage. We present the results of a relatively simple and novel intervention for traumatic hemothoraces undertaken by our faculty to shorten chest tube duration and prevent empyema formation. At our Level I trauma center, 10 trauma patients underwent initial suction evacuation of their traumatic hemothoraces using a sterile suction catheter before chest tube placement. Compared with propensity matched controls, patients that underwent initial suction evacuation experienced significantly shorter chest tube duration (4.2 ± 1.9 vs 5.8 ± 2.3 days, P = 0.04). Also, in this population, there was an 8.2 per cent decrease in the number of patients that developed empyema or required additional drainage. Our study suggests that initial suction evacuation of traumatic hemothoraces is an effective and relatively easy intervention that reduces the duration of chest tube therapy, empyema formation, and the need for additional surgical intervention.
Cited by
16 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献