title: High vacuum drainage of the chest using a miniature double lumen chest tube.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to test the safety and efficacy of a high vacuum pressure drainage system with a 7F double lumen chest tube. Methods included animal experiments, where seven rabbits were subjected to bilateral tube thoracostomies, using a 7F double lumen chest tube at 340 torr on one side and more than 500 torr on the other for 30 minutes. Then, a preliminary clinical study was done. Three patients were treated with a 7F double lumen chest tube and a vacuum box at 340 torr after a thoracoscopic sympathectomy for approximately 60 minutes. An additional 460 patients were treated with a conventional system, using a 20F single lumen chest tube and chest drainage system at 14.7 torr following the same operation. All animals tolerated the test well. Suction injury of the lung was noted on the control side. In the clinical study, the air leaks stopped within 15 minutes, and no patients showed a radiologic sign of lung suction injury. Six patients in the control group developed subcutaneous emphysema. In conclusion, high vacuum pressure drainage of the chest using the 7F double lumen chest tube is safe and effective.
authors.affiliation: Akio Wakabayashi Research Foundation and Department of Surgery, University of California Irvine, USA.
authors.forename: Akio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wakabayashi
authors.forename: Vern
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Roohk
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015505:Chest Tubes; D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000473:pathology; D011817:Rabbits; D013396:Suction / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000295:instrumentation*; D013907:Thoracostomy; D014618:Vacuum