Biomaterial Database

Reevaluation of early evacuation of clotted hemothorax. 1984

J S Coselli, and K L Mattox, and A C Beall

During an 181/2 year period, we encountered 14,300 patients with blunt or penetrating thoracic or thoracicoabdominal trauma. In 155 patients, residual clotted hemothorax or empyema developed later. Thirty-nine patients underwent early evacuation of clotted hemothorax with no mortality and an average hospital stay of only 10 days. When progression to empyema occurred, the mortality rate increased to 9.4 percent and the average hospital stay to 37.9 days. The most common related event in the development of empyema was concurrent injury to intraabdominal organs and the inevitable bacterial contamination of the thorax. In a small number of patients, tube thoracostomy drainage is inadequate and results in residual clotted hemothorax. Despite recent pleas for conservative, expectant management, it is our experience that early evacuation of clotted hemothorax is not only cost-effective, it is also associated with lower morbidity, lower mortality, and reduces the chance of development of empyema.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D007902	Length of Stay	The period of confinement of a patient to a hospital or other health facility.	Hospital Stay,Hospital Stays,Stay Length,Stay Lengths,Stay, Hospital,Stays, Hospital
D008297	Male		Males
D008875	Middle Aged	An adult aged 45 - 64 years.	Middle Age
D011030	Pneumothorax	An accumulation of air or gas in the PLEURAL CAVITY, which may occur spontaneously or as a result of trauma or a pathological process. The gas may also be introduced deliberately during PNEUMOTHORAX, ARTIFICIAL.	Pneumothorax, Primary Spontaneous,Pressure Pneumothorax,Primary Spontaneous Pneumothorax,Spontaneous Pneumothorax,Tension Pneumothorax,Pneumothorax, Pressure,Pneumothorax, Spontaneous,Pneumothorax, Tension,Spontaneous Pneumothorax, Primary
D011183	Postoperative Complications	Pathologic processes that affect patients after a surgical procedure. They may or may not be related to the disease for which the surgery was done, and they may or may not be direct results of the surgery.	Complication, Postoperative,Complications, Postoperative,Postoperative Complication
D004322	Drainage	The removal of fluids or discharges from the body, such as from a wound, sore, or cavity.
D004653	Empyema	Presence of pus in a hollow organ or body cavity.
D005069	Evaluation Studies as Topic	Works about studies that determine the effectiveness or value of processes, personnel, and equipment, or the material on conducting such studies.	Critique,Evaluation Indexes,Evaluation Methodology,Evaluation Report,Evaluation Research,Methodology, Evaluation,Pre-Post Tests,Qualitative Evaluation,Quantitative Evaluation,Theoretical Effectiveness,Use-Effectiveness,Critiques,Effectiveness, Theoretical,Evaluation Methodologies,Evaluation Reports,Evaluation, Qualitative,Evaluation, Quantitative,Evaluations, Qualitative,Evaluations, Quantitative,Indexes, Evaluation,Methodologies, Evaluation,Pre Post Tests,Pre-Post Test,Qualitative Evaluations,Quantitative Evaluations,Report, Evaluation,Reports, Evaluation,Research, Evaluation,Test, Pre-Post,Tests, Pre-Post,Use Effectiveness
D006491	Hemothorax	Hemorrhage within the pleural cavity.
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man