Adnan Aziz, Muhammad Taqi Pirzada, Jahanzaib Haider, Shams Nadeem Alam, Khalid Ahsan Malik.
Complications of tube thoracostomy in isolated chest injuries.
J Surg Pak Jan ;15(3):126-30.

Objective To assess the complications and its related factors associated with tube thoracostomy. Study design Descriptive case series. Place & Duration of study Surgical Unit VI, Dow University of Health Sciences and Civil Hospital Karachi, from November 2008 to October 2009. Methodology Sixty patients with isolated chest injury were included, who were managed with tube thoracostomy. Main outcome measures were chest tube related complications (insertional, positional, infective and others) and length of hospital stay (in days). The SPSS version 11 was used for statistical analysis. Results The overall complication rate was 36.7% including 23.3% positional, 10% infective and 3.4% others. Mean (± SD) duration of hospital stay was 13.12 (± 6.28) days. Tube thoracostomies carried out by the postgraduate residents had a significantly higher complication rate (33.4%) as compared to senior registrars (3.3% - p 0.043). Conclusions Tube thoracostomy is an effective measure of treating chest trauma but associated with significant morbidity. Furthermore, a remarkable difference in the complication rates among experience of operator suggests the need for further training.

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