The Outcome of the Use of an Improvised Chest Tube Drainage System in a Resource-Poor Centre

Chest tube drainage is often a life-saving procedure, especially in trauma. The ideal drainage system is not readily available in our environment and sometimes, if available, it is not affordable. The use of an improvised chest tube drain is a common practice, simple to construct, cheap, and readily available. However, its outcome has not been studied in our environment.

To determine the outcome of an improvised chest tube drainage system.

This was an observational study over an 18-month period, conducted at a Federal Teaching Hospital in Northeast Nigeria. The improvisation was by an appropriate-sized Foley catheter, tubing of two urine bags constructed, and a 1.5 L bottled water as the underwater seal. The patients who met the indications were counselled and recruited for the study. The data were analysed using SPSS Version 20.

A total of 35 patients were recruited with a mean age of 37 (±16) years; females were 37%, and males were 63%. The most frequent indication was trauma (42.9%), and others were infective causes (31.4%), malignant (22.9%), and one (2.9%) was due to congestive cardiac failure. The size of the catheter used ranged from 16 to 24 Fr. The Registrars performed 60.0% of the procedure; the Senior Registrars did 25.7%, the Consultants 8.6%, and the House Officers did 5.7%. The mean duration of drainage was 9 (±6) days, 74.3% was the resolution rate, and the complication rate was 65.7%.

An improvised chest tube drainage has a favourable outcome and can be safely used in the absence of the ideal.