ArticleIntensive care medicine2009
Application of ultrasound-guided pigtail catheter for drainage of pleural effusions in the ICU.
Article in Intensive care medicine, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Incidence of complications from indwelling pleural catheter for pleural effusion: A meta-analysis.Clinical and translational science · 2023Pooled it
- Utility and safety of draining pleural effusions in mechanically ventilated patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Critical care (London, England) · 2011Pooled it
- Pleural Effusion Phenotype and Ultrasound Guidance Approach Associated with Unplanned Pigtail Pleural Catheter Removal in an Adult Intensive Care Unit: A Single-Center Retrospective Cohort Study.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Failure rate and complications of small-bore, wire-guided chest drains in adult patients presenting with traumatic and nontraumatic pleural diseases: A systematic review.Qatar medical journal · 2025Review
- Minimally invasive management of thoracic trauma: current evidence and guidelines.Trauma surgery & acute care open · 2024Review
- Pleural effusion in critically ill patients and intensive care setting.World journal of clinical cases · 2023Review
- Tunneled Uncuffed Pigtail Drainage Catheter Placement in Patients with Refractory Ascites or Pleural Effusion: A Single-Center Experience.Cardiovascular and interventional radiology · 2022Article
- Effectiveness and Safety of Real-Time Transthoracic Ultrasound-Guided Thoracentesis.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Risk Factors for Mortality Among Mechanically Ventilated Patients Requiring Pleural Drainage.International journal of general medicine · 2022Article
- Management of complex pleural disease in the critically ill patient.Journal of thoracic disease · 2021Review
- Small Drainage Volumes of Pleural Effusions Are Associated with Complications in Critically Ill Patients: A Retrospective Analysis.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
- Percutaneous Ultrasound-guided Pigtail Catheter for Pleural Effusions: Efficacy and Safety.Oman medical journal · 2021Article
- Prevalence, characteristics, drainage and outcome of radiologically diagnosed pleural effusions in critically ill patients.Critical care and resuscitation : journal of the Australasian Academy of Critical Care Medicine · 2020Article
- Whole body ultrasound in the operating room and intensive care unit.Korean journal of anesthesiology · 2019Review
- An easier and safe affair, pleural drainage with ultrasound in critical patient: a technical note.Critical ultrasound journal · 2018Article
- Thoracic ultrasound for pleural effusion in the intensive care unit: a narrative review from diagnosis to treatment.Critical care (London, England) · 2017Review
- Year in review in Intensive Care Medicine 2009. Part III: mechanical ventilation, acute lung injury and respiratory distress syndrome, pediatrics, ethics, and miscellanea.Intensive care medicine · 2010Review
- Clinical outcomes of pleural drainage on pneumothorax and hydrothorax in critically ill patients with COVID-19: A case series with literature review.Heart & lung : the journal of critical careReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundLittle is known about the effectiveness of the pigtail catheter for drainage of pleural effusions in the intensive care unit (ICU).
methodsWe conducted a retrospective review of adult patients (>/=18 years) who underwent ultrasound-guided pigtail catheter drainage of pleural effusions in the ICUs from January 2005 to July 2007 in a university hospital.
resultsAmong the 133 enrolled patients, there were 93 (70%) males and 40 (30%) females, with a mean age of 63.7 +/- 15.4 years old. The reasons for pigtail drainage were as follows: thoracic empyema (n = 59, 44%), massive transudative pleural effusions (n = 33, 25%), postoperative pleural effusion (n = 29, 15%), malignant pleural effusion (n = 18, 14%) and traumatic hemothorax (n = 3, 2%). In comparing the total amount of fluids drained, the duration of drainage, success rate and complication rate among these different causes of pleural effusion, pigtail drainage for massive transudative pleural effusion yielded the largest amount of pleural fluids (5,382 +/- 4,844 ml), provided the longest duration of drainage (9 +/- 7 days), and had the highest complication rate (18%). The success rate was highest when used to treat traumatic hemothorax (100%) and postoperative pleural effusions (85%); drains inserted for empyema were more likely to fail (overall success rate, 42%). No significant insertion complications, such as hollow organ perforation, were caused by this procedure.
conclusionThe ultrasound-guided pigtail catheter inserted by intensivists is a well-tolerated and effective method of draining all kinds of pleural effusions in critically ill patients. We suggest that pigtail catheter drainage be considered as the initial treatment of choice in the ICU.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.