Predictors of outcome of chest tube drainage of nonpurulent exudative pleural effusions

Chimaobi Ikechukwu Nwagboso; Chidiebere Peter Echieh; John Nkemakolam Eze; Stephen Omirigbe Ogbudu; Chibueze Haggai Njoku; Anietimfon Umoh Etiuma; Okokon Odonkwo Bassey

doi:10.1183/23120541.00604-2021

Predictors of outcome of chest tube drainage of nonpurulent exudative pleural effusions

ERJ Open Res. 2022 Apr 4;8(2):00604-2021. doi: 10.1183/23120541.00604-2021. eCollection 2022 Apr.

Authors

Chimaobi Ikechukwu Nwagboso¹, Chidiebere Peter Echieh^{1

2}, John Nkemakolam Eze¹, Stephen Omirigbe Ogbudu^{1

2}, Chibueze Haggai Njoku^{3

4}, Anietimfon Umoh Etiuma^{1

2}, Okokon Odonkwo Bassey¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Dept of Surgery, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria.
² Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Dept of Surgery, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria.
³ Pulmonology Unit, Dept of Internal Medicine, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Calabar, Nigeria.
⁴ Pulmonology Unit, Dept of Internal Medicine, University of Calabar, Calabar, Nigeria.

Abstract

Background: Although chest tube drainage is the primary management method for many pleural effusions, it has a failure rate of 9.4-48%. In this study, we examined the factors that predict the outcome of management of nonpurulent exudative effusions. The aim of this study was to determine the predictors of outcomes of chest tube drainage of pleural effusions.

Methodology: Consecutive patients who had a chest tube drainage of nonpurulent exudative pleural effusions were followed up in a prospective observational cohort study until extubation and discharge. Data on the management of the patients were recorded, analysed and compared between groups of patients with good and poor outcomes.

Results: Of the 52 patients studied, 38 had good outcomes, while 14 had poor outcomes. The mean±sd age was 39.7±15.9 years. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that empyema thoracis complicating drainage was an independent predictor of a poor outcome, while the duration of drainage ≤14 days and duration of illness before presentation <30 days were predictive of a good outcome.

Conclusion: Our results show that the development of empyema thoracis during drainage, a long duration of drainage and a prolonged period of illness before presentation are predictive of the outcome of chest tube drainage.