Journal Review in Trauma Surgery: Pigtail Catheters for Traumatic Hemothorax

Large diameter 26-32Fr chest tubes are the treatment of choice at many institutions for the treatment of traumatic hemothorax, but does the currently available data support that? Are there better options available? Join our team as we discuss the The Small 14-French (Fr) Percutaneous Catheter vs. Large (28-32Fr) Open Chest Tube for Traumatic Hemothorax (P-CAT): A Multi-center Randomized Clinical Trial by Dr. N Kulvatunyou et al to address this question. 

Hosts: 

Elliott R. Haut, MD, PhD, a senior, nationally recognized name in trauma and acute care surgery at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Haut is a past president of The Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma (EAST). 

Marcie Feinman, MD, MEHP, the current program director of General Surgery Residency at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore and editorial board member of SCORE. She received her Masters in Education in the Health Professions from Johns Hopkins. 

David Sigmon, MD, MMEd, a PGY-6 resident at the University of Illinois at Chicago who plans on going into trauma surgery. He did two years of research in surgical education at the University of Pennsylvania where he also received his Master’s in Medical Education. 

Journal Articles
The Small 14-French (Fr) Percutaneous Catheter vs. Large (28-32Fr) Open Chest Tube for Traumatic Hemothorax (P-CAT): A Multi-center Randomized Clinical Trial. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33843831/ 

Randomized Clinical Trial of 14-French (14F) Pigtail Catheters versus 28-32F Chest Tubes in the Management of Patients with Traumatic Hemothorax and Hemopneumothorax. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33415448/

Randomized clinical trial of pigtail catheter versus chest tube in injured patients with uncomplicated traumatic pneumothorax. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24375295/ 

14 French pigtail catheters placed by surgeons to drain blood on trauma patients: is 14-Fr too small?
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23188235/ 

A Prospective Study of 7-Year Experience Using Percutaneous 14-French Pigtail Catheters for Traumatic Hemothorax/Hemopneumothorax at a Level-1 Trauma Center: Size Still Does Not Matter
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28795207/ 

A History of Thoracic Drainage: From Ancient Greeks to Wound Sucking Drummers to Digital Monitoring https://www.ctsnet.org/article/history-thoracic-drainage-ancient-greeks-wound-sucking-drummer s-digital-monitoring


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