HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Erdal Okur Volkan Baysungur Cagatay Tezel Mertol Gokce Semih Halezeroglu Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Okur, E. Articles by Halezeroglu, S. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Okur, E. Articles by Halezeroglu, S. Related Collections Lung - other Pleura

Comparison of the single or double chest tube applications after pulmonary lobectomies

Sureyyapasa Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Teaching and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

Received 24 May 2008; received in revised form 17 August 2008; accepted 8 September 2008.

^_* Corresponding author. Address: Sureyyapasa Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Teaching and Research Hospital, D Block, Maltepe, Istanbul 34758, Turkey. Tel.: +90 5327961600; fax: +90 2164214265. (Email: erdalokur{at}hotmail.com).

Objective: Draining of the chest cavity with two chest tubes after pulmonary lobectomy is a common practice. This study aimed to investigate whether using two tubes after a pulmonary lobectomy is more effective than using a single tube. Method: This prospective randomised study included 100 consecutive patients who underwent lobectomy or bilobectomy for any pathological condition between May 2006 and November 2007. In the 50 patients in the ‘single-tube group’, only one 32 F chest tube was inserted, and in the 50 patients in the ‘double-tube group’, two 32 F chest tubes were inserted. Pre-, intra- and postoperative variables in both the groups were compared. Results: The pre- and intraoperative characteristics of the patients were similar in both groups. The mean amount of drainage from chest tubes was 600 ± 43.2 cc in the single-tube group and 896 ± 56.2 cc in the double-tube group (p < 0.001). The mean values of postoperative pain assessed on the visual analogue scale (VAS) in the early (second day) period were 4.28 ± 0.21 in the single-tube group and 5.10 ± 0.23 in the double-tube group (p = 0.014). The VAS scores in the late (second week) period were 1.48 ± 0.13 in the single-tube group and 2.00 ± 0.17 in the double-tube group (p = 0.01). All other related parameters were similar in both groups. Conclusions: Insertion of two chest tubes is not more effective than the insertion of a single chest tube after pulmonary lobectomy. Moreover, using a single tube is in fact more effective than using two tubes in that it causes less postoperative pain and less pleural fluid loss.

Key Words: Chest tubes • Postoperative pain • Pain measurement • Pulmonary surgical procedures

This article has been cited by other articles:

				H.-L. Chen, Q.-S. You, and X.-D. Wen Experimental design should be regulated for the study Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg., March 1, 2009; 35(3): 552 - 553. [Full Text] [PDF]

				E. Okur, V. Baysungur, C. Tezel, and S. Halezeroglu Reply to chen et Al. Eur. J. Cardiothorac. Surg., March 1, 2009; 35(3): 553 - 553. [Full Text] [PDF]