INTRODUCTION
Chest drains are widely used in cardiothoracic surgery. They are left in
place after surgery for evacuation of air and fluids accumulated in the
thoracic cavities. It has been a standard practice to obtain a routine
chest X-ray once the chest drain is removed. There is no clear guidance
regarding the necessity and timing of the chest X-rays after removal,
yet they are rather empirically
obtained.1–3Americal College of Radiology does not support the routine use of chest
X-rays after the removal of chest
drains.4
Undifferentiated routine use of chest X-rays has several disadvantages.
It increases false-positive rates, overall costs and leads to
overutilisation of the healthcare
resources.5,6Furthermore, it increases the exposure to ironising radiation in
patients, especially important in children because of the cumulative
risk of malignancy later in
life.3,7In addition, routine use of chest X-rays does not influence mortality
rate, length of intensive care stay or hospital
stay.5This review aims to explore the evidence in the literature regarding the
routine use of chest X-rays in patients, both adults and children,
undergoing cardiac and thoracic surgical procedures.