Demonstration of pleural tube track tubularity

The inflammatory reaction that is caused by the placement of a tube in the pleural space persists after tube removal and may be observed on chest roentgenograms. One radiological presentation of this reaction is a lucent stripe, which represents localized iatrogenic pneumothorax in the track of the tube. The possibility that this stripe may represent a tubular track is not generally appreciated. We report two instances in which the three-dimensional tubular nature of the tracks is demonstrated. Failure to correlate such a stripe with roentgenograms showing the previous placement of the chest tube at the site of a track may lead to confusion and potentially serious misinterpretation.