Texas Heart Institute journal
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Subxiphoid versus intercostal chest tubes: comparison of postoperative pain and pulmonary morbidities after coronary artery bypass grafting.
Chest tubes are one cause of pain after cardiac surgery. In a prospective, randomized study, we investigated the effects of the position of chest tubes on acute postoperative pain and pulmonary morbidities in patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting. From June through December 2010, 40 patients who underwent elective coronary artery bypass grafting were enrolled in the study. ⋯ Pleural effusion and atelectasis were each diagnosed in 3 patients in Group 1 (15%) and 1 patient in Group 2 (5%) (both P=0.68). Two of the patients in Group 1 required drainage of the pleural effusion. In our study, we found that the subxiphoid and intercostal approaches for chest-tube placement yielded similar clinical outcomes.