Chest Drain Insertion-Made Easy with Gum Bougie

摘要

Background: Surgical Chest drain insertion is a lifesaving procedure. It requires skills and experience towards its prompt insertion. Quite often there is delay or failure caused in its insertion due to excessive fat and loose skin in the axillary area while using the conventional methods. Numerous guidelines exist advising its safe placement, but mishaps still occur, as reported multiple times, while placing the chest drain. In addition to this, a delay or failure of its successful insertion can lead to disastrous consequences. Case: We would like to share, with fellow readers, a novel technique which we used in placing a surgical chest drain successfully. We used a gum bougie to guide the chest drain into the pleural cavity instead of using metal trocar, stellate or long forceps. Conclusion: By using this method, we experienced that not only it reduced the amount of time taken for the procedure, but it also had positive impact on the ease of insertion without fear of causing damage to internal organs, which ultimately boosted the operator’s confidence.