[Iatrogenic pneumothorax treated with a small calibre pleural tube]

Fourty-three patients (28 males, 15 females, median age 50 years) with iatrogenic pneumothorax following invasive diagnostic procedures (percutaneous transthoracic fine needle aspiration biopsy 26, fiberoptic transbronchial biopsy 14, pleurocentesis 3), were treated with small calibre thoracic tube drainage. The tube consisted of a teflon catheter, 160 mm long, 2 mm in outer diameter which was inserted into the second intercostal space in the mid-clavicular line in local analgesia. Pneumothorax was evacuated by intermittent aspiration with a syringe in 16 patients. In the remaining 27 patients the catheter was connected to a one way flutter valve. Treatment was uncomplicated in all patients and successful in 41 (95%) patients, while two required a large calibre chest tube on account of persistent leakage. The median drainage time was 48 hours. Small calibre thoracic tube with a one way flutter valve is convenient for treatment of iatrogenic pneumothorax, being less traumatic and less expensive than conventional thoracic tube drainage.