Catheter Thoracostomy: Our 5 Years of Clinical Experience.

Background: It was aimed to retrospectively examine the data of patients who underwent catheter thoracostomy to determine their demographic and clinical characteristics and to evaluate the effectiveness of the procedure. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively evaluated 613 catheter thoracostomy procedures performed at the Health Practice and Research Center between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2017. Results: Five hundred and sixty-seven (92.5%) were unilateral and 46 (7.5%) were bilateral catheter thoracostomy. Three hundred and seventy-seven (61.5%) procedures were performed on male patients and 236 (38.5%) procedures were performed on female patients. The mean age was 68 ± 16 (13-105 years old). The operation indications were 202 (33%) thoracic malignancies, 98 (16%) extrathoracic malignancies, and benign pathologies in 313 (51%) patients. Conclusions: Catheter thoracostomy procedure is being used more and more every day in the treatment of pleural effusions due to patient comfort, ease of application and low cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]