Tuesday August 15, 2006


Q: What volume of chest tube drainage will make you comfortable to consider removing it?


A: Once your drainage comes down to less than or equal to 200 ml over 24 hours without any evidence of air leaks - you may be in safe zone to discontinue chest tube 1.



Read excellent review on chest tube management (pdf file) from www.surgicalcriticalcare.net (Department of Surgical Education, Orlando Regional Medical Center).



Reference: click to get abstract

1. When to remove a chest tube?: A randomized study with subsequent prospective consecutive validation - J Am Coll Surg. 2002; 195:658-662.