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 Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Permission Requests Google Scholar Articles by Fukui, T. Articles by Mitsudomi, T. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Fukui, T. Articles by Mitsudomi, T.

Comparison of methods for placing and managing a silastic drain after pulmonary resection

^a Department of Thoracic Surgery, Aichi Cancer Center Hospital, Nagoya, Japan
^b Division of Thoracic Surgery, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

*Corresponding author. 1-1, Kanokoden, Chikusa-Ku, Nagoya 464-0021, Japan. Tel.: +81-52-762-6111; fax: +81-52-764-2967.

E-mail address: tfukui{at}aichi-cc.jp (T. Fukui).

We have been using a silastic drain [Blake^® drain (BD)] after pulmonary resection by different placement methods and reviewed the daily amount of drainage in each patient. A 19-Fr BD was placed for each of 110 patients. First, a drain was inserted from the anterior chest wall and the tip reached the dorsal part of the diaphragm [anterior-to-posterior (AP)]. For the others [posterior-to-anterior (PA); n=37], we inserted a drain from the lower intercostal space, turned it around the apex and placed its tip in the lower front. Patients in the AP group included those placed under a water seal (AP-WS; n=43) or suction (AP-SC; n=30). The reference group consisted of 68 patients with a 32-Fr plastic drain during the same period [conventional drains (CD)]. The amount of drainage on the day of surgery in the PA group was significantly higher than that in the AP-WS group (P<0.0001) and similar to that in the CD group (P=0.54). The mean amount of drainage on postoperative day 1 and total amounts accumulating during drain placement showed no significant differences between the four groups. A BD placed using a PA approach with suction might be efficient for drainage.

Key Words: Blake; Drainage; Lung cancer surgery