Wall suction-assisted image-guided thoracentesis: a safe alternative to evacuated bottles

Area of Science:

• Pulmonology
• Medical Procedures
• Patient Safety

Background:

• Thoracentesis is a common procedure for pleural fluid removal.
• Different methods exist for pleural fluid aspiration, including evacuated bottle-assisted and wall suction-assisted techniques.
• Assessing the comparative safety of these methods is crucial for optimizing patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the safety and adverse event rates of evacuated bottle-assisted thoracentesis versus wall suction-assisted thoracentesis.
• To determine if wall suction is associated with a lower incidence of specific adverse events.
• To evaluate the overall safety profile of image-guided thoracentesis techniques.

Main Methods:

• A retrospective study compared 191 evacuated bottle-assisted thoracenteses with 230 wall suction-assisted thoracenteses.
• All procedures were image-guided and conducted between 2012 and 2013.
• Adverse events (AE) were recorded up to 30 days post-procedure and graded using CTCAE v4.0.

Main Results:

• Overall AE rates were significantly higher in the evacuated bottle group (42.9%) compared to the wall suction group (19.6%) (p<0.0001).
• Grade I AEs were more frequent with evacuated bottles (41.9%) versus wall suction (18.3%) (p<0.0001).
• Excluding transient chest pain and cough, no significant difference in AE rates was observed between the two methods.

Conclusions:

• Image-guided thoracentesis using wall suction is a safe alternative to evacuated bottles.
• Wall suction may lead to a reduced incidence of transient chest pain and cough.
• Both methods demonstrated comparable safety for more severe adverse events.