Chest tube complication

SBAR: Case study on chest tube complication, A 30-year-old woman with a history of cystic fibrosis was admitted to the hospital for management of a spontaneous left pneumothorax (collapse of her lung). She required urgent thoracostomy (chest tube) placement in the emergency department.

The chest tube was connected to wall suction in order to promote re-expansion of her lung.

Over the next 2 days, the patient improved, and repeat imaging showed re-expansion of her lung. The consulting pulmonary team felt that the chest tube might be able to be removed, so they requested that the tube be disconnected from suction and clamped. The plan was to obtain a chest radiograph 1 hour after clamping the tube, and if the pneumothorax had not recurred, the tube would be removed.