title: Targeted wire-guided chest tube placement: a cadaver study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Chest tube thoracostomy is a standard procedure for pleural fluid and air drainage. The aim of this study is to compare the success rate of the targeted tube thoracostomy using two different techniques: a targeted wire-guided (TWG) technique and a classical surgical (CS) technique.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study was performed on 153 human cadavers without documented pleural pathology, mechanically ventilated during the procedure. They were divided into two groups and to each cadaver a software generated random number was assigned. The TWG technique was applied on 76 and the CS technique on 77 cadavers. The TWG and CS groups were divided into four subgroups according to the four intended positions of the chest tube tip (target position in the pleural cavity): back-down-right, front-up-right, front-up-left and back-down-left. The precise position of the chest tube tip after thoracostomy was determined by autopsy. The placement of the thoracostomy tube was marked successful if the chest tube tip was located at an intended position.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The success rate with the TWG technique was 79%, whereas with the CS technique it was 30%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A higher success rate was achieved with the TWG than with the CS thoracostomy technique.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, University Hospital Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia. alenp@medri.hr
authors.forename: Alen
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Protic
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Barkovic
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bralic
authors.forename: Tedi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Cicvaric
authors.forename: Sanja
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stifter
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sustic
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002102:Cadaver; D015505:Chest Tubes; D004322:Drainage / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010996:Pleural Effusion / Q000601:surgery*; D011030:Pneumothorax / Q000601:surgery*; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013907:Thoracostomy / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult