For several years it has been argued that a chest tube should be placed at the scene of an accident if thoracic trauma is suspected. However, during emergency treatment in hospital it has been observed that a high number of such tubes have been placed incorrectly. To validate this impression, we conducted a retrospective analysis of the clinical course of 33 trauma victims who had had chest tubes placed at the scene of accident. It was found that 39.4% of the chest tubes were placed completey incorrectly and 21.2% required some correction; 39.4% were placed correctly. In two cases (6.1%) life-threatening complications developed because of the chest tube, necessitating a thoracotomy in 1 patient and repeated pericardial punction in the other. Based on the results of our study we believe that a more critical attitude should be adopted to the placement of chest tubes at the scene of the accident.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Peters, S., Wolter, D. & Schultz, JH. Gefahren und Risiken der am Unfallort gelegten Thoraxdrainagen. Unfallchirurg 99, 953–957 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/s001130050079
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s001130050079