Chest drain rall-out rate according to suturing practices: a retrospective direct comparison

Journal article

Background:

Chest drains often become displaced and require replacement, adding unnecessary risks to patients. Simple measures such as suturing of the drain may reduce fall-out rates; however, there is no direct data to demonstrate this and no standardized recommended practice that is evidence based.

Objectives:

The study aimed to analyze the rate of chest drain fall out according to suturing practice.

Methods:

Retrospective analysis of all chest drain insertions (radiology and pleural teams) in 2015–2016. Details of chest drain fall out were collected from patient electronic records. Drain “fall out” was pre-hoc defined as the drain tip becoming dislodged outside the pleural cavity unintentionally before a clinical decision was taken to remove the drain.

Results:

A total of 369 chest drains were inserted: sutured (n = 106, 28.7%; 44 male [41.5%], median age 74 [interquartile range (IQR) 21] years), and unsutured (n = 263, 71.3%; 139 male [52.9%], median age 68 [IQR 21] years). Of the sutured drains, 7 (6.6%) fell out after a mean of 3.3 days (SD 2.6) compared to 39 (14.8%; p = 0.04) unsutured drains falling out after a mean of 2.7 days (SD 2.0; p = 0.8).

Conclusions:

Within the limits of this retrospective analysis, these results suggest that suturing of drains is associated with lower fall-out rates.

Authors: Asciak, R; Addala, D; Karimjee, J; Rana, M; Tsikrika, S

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: S. Karger AG
• Journal: Respiration More from this journal
• Volume: 96
• Pages: 48–51
• Publication date: 2018-06-14
• Acceptance date: 2018-04-12
• DOI: 10.1159/000489230
• EISSN: 1423-0356
• ISSN: 0025-7931
• Keywords: pleural effusion; pleural catheter; pleura