Should central venous catheters be used to drain pleural effusions? Authors' response
-
* Corresponding author: Kulgit Singh Kulgit_singh@ttsh.com.sg
1 Consultant, Department of Anaesthesiology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore
2 Senior Consultant, Department of Anaesthesiology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore
3 Professor of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Director of Intensive Care Research, Department of Intensive Care, Austin & Repatriation Medical Centre, Heidelberg, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Critical Care 2004, 8:57 doi:10.1186/cc2448
Published: 2 January 2004First paragraph (this article has no abstract)
We would like to thank MacDuff and Grant [1], as well as the many others who accessed it, for their interest in our article [2] on using central venous catheters for pleural drainage. We started using this technique about 5 years ago with the aim of achieving better patient comfort without compromising on adequate pleural drainage. We did not at that time have access to the specific chest drainage systems mentioned by MacDuff and Grant. While we agree that the central venous catheters we describe are not specifically designed for the purpose of pleural drainage, they are made of biologically inert materials with a long track record of intravenous use. We have not modified them before placement. To minimize the risk of complications at insertion, we were selective in our choice of patients and we monitor these patients closely from the safety and efficacy points of view.