Need for chest tube after Video Assisted Thoracoscopic (VATS) Lung Biopsy

Abstract

Objective: To observe the effects of early removal of chest tube drain after video assisted
thoracoscopic (VATS) lung biopsy.
Material & Methods: We prospectively evaluated the removal of chest tube drain at six hours or
24 hours after the VATS-lung biopsy in fifty consecutive patients with no evidence of air leak after
the lung biopsy.
Results: Our results show that removal of chest tube drain at 6 hours was not associated with
complications such pneumothorax, atelectasis or pleural effusion as compared to the 24 hours
removal of the drain( p>0.05).
Conclusion: Early removal of chest tube drain is safe in patients where air leak has been
documented to be absent. Since it was a non-randomized evaluation, further randomized study in
our population is needed to confirm these findings