CURVED CHEST TUBE FOR DRAINAGE OF MALIGNANT PLEURAL EFFUSION

Thoracentesis with a chest tube insertion and drainage of large pleura l effusion is widely performed in patients with malignant lung disease s. One potential problem with a conventional chest tube placement is o ccasional incomplete evacuation of effusion owing to inappropriate pos ition of the tip where the drainage holes opened. We have developed a curved chest tube and evaluated the position of tip placement just aft er the placement and before removal on plain chest X-ray in 20 patient s with massive pleural effusions due to lung cancer. In 15 of the 20 p atients, the tip of the tube was successfully positioned at the parave rtebral gutter in posterobasal with higher drainage efficacy compared with other patients whose tube tips happened to be positioned at other sites. There were no significant complications. This study suggested that the curved chest tube would be safe and useful in completing drai nage of pleural effusion.