Complications related to tube thoracostomy in Southwest Finland hospital district between 2004-2014

The purpose of this study was to describe the frequency and types of complications after tube thoracostomy (TT) among all patients treated with TT for both traumatic and non-traumatic indications. This was a retrospective register-based study of patients treated with TT between the years 2004-2014 in Southwest Finland hospital district. 1808 patients who had undergone TT were identified, complete data on TT treatment was available for 1169 patients. 233 (19.9%) patients had 289 complications, 284 (98.3%) were positional resulting in tube malfunction. In 84 (7.2%) patients malposition of the tube resulted in need for non-urgent operative treatment. There were 103 in-hospital deaths, but none due to TT complications. Empyema as a treatment indication was more frequent in patients with complications (15,9% vs 6,8%, p<0.001) as was diabetes (21,9% vs 13,2%, p=0.001). The likelihood of complications was lower with CH16 tubes (OR 0.22, p