What Is a Pneumothorax Catheter?

Pigtail catheters are named for their crimped ends and pigtail-like ends. Pigtail catheters are widely used in kidney, ureter, and bladder surgery in urology. Patients who use pigtail-type catheter drainage tend to be simplified in management after surgery. Because of the built-in catheter, patients can move early, reduce the chance of infection, significantly reduce the workload of nursing, recover quickly after surgery, and shorten the length of hospital stay.

According to the type of catheter, it is divided into single J pigtail catheter and double J pigtail catheter.

1. Treatment of ureteral obstruction;

2. Promote spontaneous discharge of ureteral stones;

3. After ureteroscopy, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy and percutaneous nephroscope;

4. Incision and reconstruction of pelvic ureteral junction stenosis;

5. Ureteral obstruction caused by malignant tumor;

6. The stent tube is used in women with ureteral calculi.

First insert the guide wire into the catheter, then insert the catheter into the human body and reach the lesion. After the catheter is implanted in the human body,

Conventional drainage tubes require large incisions during closed drainage, which can cause considerable tissue damage. At present, drainage tubes commonly used in clinical practice are thick silicone tubes with a diameter of 24-32F, which are harder in material and poor in position control. The painful irritation is more likely to damage the lung tissue due to improper operation; on the other hand, crude silicone rubber is prone to slippage and blockage in the chest cavity, which affects the effect of pneumothorax drainage. The pigtail catheter has a diameter of 8 to 14F, is made of soft material, has a small incision when placed, reduces patient pain, is well tolerated, and has a low risk of lung tissue damage. It is now commonly used for pneumothorax drainage.

Advantages of pigtail catheters

Pigtail catheters are safe, can be operated at the bedside, and have a similar effect to chest tubes in the treatment of pneumothorax patients ^[2] . After the pigtail catheter is inserted into the chest, its distal end naturally curls into a pigtail shape. A plurality of drainage holes are located on the inner side of the head of the coiled catheter, and can even be perfectly formed by a fixed wire and fixed to the required position. Its advantage lies in the characteristics of its material and shape, which makes the pigtail catheter not easy to fold, twist and slip in the chest cavity, and the drainage hole is not easy to block and affect the drainage effect. Compared with the common chest tube group, the pigtail catheter group had a greater than 50% reduction in the local pain score after intubation ^[3] .

Compared with the common chest tube group, the pigtail-type catheter group reduced the time for postoperative tube placement, and there was no significant difference in the success rate of pneumothorax treatment, the length of postoperative hospital stay, and the incidence of corresponding complications ^[4] . Therefore, compared with the common chest tube, the application of pigtail catheter in the treatment of pneumothorax can effectively reduce the patient's postoperative tube placement time, and there is no statistically significant difference in complications, postoperative hospital stay, and success rate. Pigtail catheter can be effectively used for closed chest drainage of pneumothorax patients.

Pigtail catheter questioned

The main reason for questioning is that the caliber of pigtail-type catheters is small, and the drainage rate per unit time seems to be affected as a result.

In clinical practice, the pigtail catheter in some patients has been ectopic, causing it to lose its effect. In severe cases, it needs to be removed by surgery, which causes physical injury to patients and additional costs.