How safe is to discharge home patients with a chest tube in place? Narrative review
Fabrizio Minervini, Pietro Bertoglio, Alessandro Brunelli, Yaron Shargall | March 28, 2025
Papers
Persistent air leaks (PAL) and excess fluid drainage prolong hospital stays after lung surgery. Studies support outpatient PAL management, reducing costs but posing risks like empyema and readmission. Segmentectomy increases PAL risks, requiring further study. Outpatient pneumothorax treatment is feasible but has mixed results. Structured post-discharge care, including monitoring, is…
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Digital pleural versus analog drainage devices for postoperative management of patients after pulmonary resection
Alison Embalabala, Brian Mitzman, Traves Crabtree | March 28, 2025
Papers
This article identifies and summarizes the current comparative data between digital drains and traditional pleural devices. Some randomized controlled trials found no significant difference between digital and analogue systems. Others reported shorter chest tube duration and length of stay with digital devices. Meta-analyses support these findings, though variations in protocols…
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How soon should we remove a chest drain following anatomic lung resection?
Ashiq Abdul Khader, Eric Lim | March 28, 2025
Papers
Effective drainology influences hospital stay duration. Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) guidelines recommend a single chest tube, digital drainage systems, pain management and improving mobility. However, suction pressure and chest tube removal criteria remain a topic of debate and research. Studies show early drain removal, on POD0, is safe using…
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Outcomes of chest drain management using only air leak (without fluid) criteria for removal after general thoracic surgery—a drainology study
Ashiq Abdul Khader, Aina Pons, Abigail Palmares, Sarah Booth, Alexander Smith, Chiara Proli, Paulo De Sousa and Eric Lim | July 10, 2023
Papers
Chest drain management is a variable aspect of postoperative care in thoracic surgery, with different opinion for air and drain volume output. The results of our study demonstrate acceptable levels of safety using digital assessment of air leak as the sole criteria for drain removal in selected patients after general…
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Are chest drains routinely required after thoracic surgery? A drainology study of on-table chest-drain removals
Ashiq Abdul Khader, Aina Pons, Abigail Palmares, Chiara Proli, Paulo De Sousa and Eric Lim | June 2, 2023
Papers
Advances in perioperative management for thoracic surgery have accelerated the postoperative recovery of patients by decreasing postoperative pain and the incidence of complications. We aimed to study whether it’s safe to remove chest drains on table in selected cases. Click here to read on JTCVS Open.
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Enhanced recovery after surgery and chest tube management
Tim J.P. Batchelor | February 24, 2023
Papers
This review from Tim Batchelor highlights importance of a focus on proactive chest tube management (single tube, no routine suction, use of digital drains, early removal) for superior patient outcomes.
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