Comparison of Small Bore Catheter Aspiration and Chest Tube Drainage in the Management of Spontaneous Pneumothorax

Beside standard chest tube drainage other less invasive techniques have been used in the management of patients with an acute episode of spontaneous pneumothorax. The aim of the study was to evaluate the short term effect of spontaneous pneumothorax treatment with small-bore pleural catheter and manual aspiration as compared to large-bore chest tube drainage. Patients with an episode of pneumothorax who required pleural intervention were enrolled in the study and randomly assigned to one of the treatment arms: (1) small-bore pleural catheter (8 Fr) with manual aspiration; (2) standard chest tube drainage (20-24 Fr). Success rate of the first line treatment, duration of catheter or chest tube drainage, and the need for surgical intervention were the outcome measures. The study group included 49 patients (mean age 46.9 +/- 21.3 years); with 22 and 27 allocated to small bore manual aspiration and chest tube drainage groups, respectively. There were no significant differences in the baseline characteristics of patients in both therapeutic arms. First line treatment success rates were 64 % and 82 % in the manual aspiration and chest tube drainage groups, respectively; the difference was insignificant. Median time of treatment with small bore catheter was significantly shorter than conventional chest tube drainage (2.0 vs. 6.0 days; p < 0.05). Our results show that treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax with small-bore pleural catheter and manual aspiration might be similarly effective as is chest tube drainage in terms of immediate lung re-expansion.