The short-term outcomes for the early removal of pigtail catheter drainage within 24 hours of uniportal video-assisted anatomic surgery in patients with lung cancer.

BACKGROUND

Early removal of the chest tube has advantages of reducing postoperative pain and speed recovery. This study aimed to confirm its safety and feasibility of early removal of a pigtail catheter used as a chest drain in patients undergoing anatomical surgery.

METHODS

This retrospective cohort study included 126 patients who removed pigtail catheter ≤24 h after surgery, and 56 patients >24 h who underwent uniportal video-assisted thoracic surgery (u-VATS) between January 2020 and April 2022. All patients had stage I lung cancer and underwent anatomical surgery (lobectomy or segmentectomy). The clinical characteristics, perioperative data, and postoperative complications of both groups were analyzed and compared.

RESULTS

The >24 h group had more patients with a higher body mass index (BMI) (P<0.001), a lower forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) (P<0.001), Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (P<0.001), and current smokers (P=0.006) than the ≤24 h group. There were no significant differences in terms of age, sex, type of resection, operation time, and bleeding loss between the two groups (P>0.05). The pain of patients in the ≤24 h group was significantly less than that in the >24 h group only on the third postoperative day (P=0.035). There were no significant differences in the postoperative visual analogue scale (VAS) at postoperative day 0, day 1, day 7, and 1 month between the two groups (P>0.05). With the exception of a higher occurrence of subcutaneous emphysema in the >24 h group (71.7% vs. 100%, P=0.001), there were no statistically significant differences in the postoperative complications (e.g., pneumonia, atrial fibrillation, atelectasis, pleural effusion, and wound infection) between the 2 groups (P>0.05). During the 30-day follow-up period, none of the patients required tube reinsertion for pneumothorax. A total of 8 patients in the ≤24 h group and 4 in the >24 h group required tube reinsertion (6.7% vs. 7.1%, P>0.99) due to pleural effusion.

CONCLUSIONS

In stage I lung cancer patients who underwent u-VATS anatomic surgery, the pigtail catheter used as a thoracic drainage tube removed with 24 h after was safe and feasible.