PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Margarida Torres Redondo AU - Inês Neves AU - Eva Padrão AU - Veronica Cardoso AU - Maria Sucena AU - Adriana Magalhães TI - Chest tube clamping in spontaneous pneumothorax: 6 hours versus 24 hours – A randomized pilot study AID - 10.1183/13993003.congress-2015.PA1821 DP - 2015 Sep 01 TA - European Respiratory Journal PG - PA1821 VI - 46 IP - suppl 59 4099 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/46/suppl_59/PA1821.short 4100 - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/46/suppl_59/PA1821.full SO - Eur Respir J2015 Sep 01; 46 AB - Introduction: In the treatment of a spontaneous pneumothorax (SP), there is consensus that chest tubes should be removed only when there is a re-expansion of lung and no clinical evidence of an air leak. There are different recommendations concerning the duration of chest tube clamping (CTC). In our department, 24 hours CTC is the conventional method.Objective: To compare the risk of recurrence of SP between 6 hours and 24 hours CTC.Methods: Forty-one patients were enrolled in the study. All subjects were randomized after the resolution of a SP: 6 hours CTC versus 24 hours CTC (control). The number and time of recurrence were analysed.Results: During the clamping time 2 patients were excluded (clamp had to be removed). Nineteen patients were included in the 6 hours group and 20 in the control group. Patients (30 males) with a median age of 28 had in 76.9% history of smoking habits and 30.8% used inhaled illicit drugs. There were no recurrences in the first 7 days after chest tube removal. No significant statistical differences were found in the risk to recurrence in the two groups (p=0.471). A considerable difference between the 2 groups was found in the time until recurrence (56 days in 6 hours group versus 303 days in control group). In the multivariate analysis the CTC duration didn't influence the risk of recurrence.Conclusions: In this study, the risk of early (< 7 days) recurrence of SP was not influenced by the duration of CTC. A larger study with more patients and a longer follow-up is needed to clarify the relationship between the duration of CTC and the risk of late recurrence. A decrease in the hours of CTC can reduce in-hospital length of stay.