[The value of wound drainage with or without suction]

Even though the discussion for desisting from wound drainage has arisen, this is not reflected in the reality of surgical treatment. In more than 90% of all procedures wound drainage is used. It remains to be proven whether suction drainage actually is superior to gravity drainage in everyday use. In a random study with 200 patients it was proven that suction drainage shows no significant advantage in liquid quantum, haematoma and the frequency of complications. We conclude that the economically favourable gravity drainage can replace the more expensive suction drainage in most cases.