Traditional chest drainage versus drainage by thoracotomy: a prospective randomized study.

Objective: To compare the chest tube drainage by the same thoracotomy intercostal space with the traditional approach in patients undergoing muscle-sparing thoracotomy.

Methods: We evaluated 40 patients aged ≥18 years who underwent elective muscle sparing thoracotomies. Patients were divided into two groups of 20 patients.

Comparative study of transepidermal water loss in patients with and without hyperhidrosis by closed-chamber measurer in an air-conditioned environment.

Objective: To evaluate the difference in transepidermal water loss in patients diagnosed with hyperhidrosis and healthy subjects, in an air-conditioned environment.

Methods: Twenty patients diagnosed with hyperhidrosis and 20 healthy subjects were subjected to quantitative assessment using a closed-chamber device, in six previously established sites.

Results: The measurements showed different transepidermal water loss values for healthy subjects and patients with hyperhidrosis, especially in the hands and feet.

An initial experience with a digital drainage system during the postoperative period of pediatric thoracic surgery.

Objective:: To report an initial experience with a digital drainage system during the postoperative period of pediatric thoracic surgery.

Methods:: This was a prospective observational study involving consecutive patients, ≤ 14 years of age, treated at a pediatric thoracic surgery outpatient clinic, for whom pulmonary resection (lobectomy or segmentectomy via muscle-sparing thoracotomy) was indicated. The parameters evaluated were air leak (as quantified with the digital system), biosafety, duration of drainage, length of hospital stay, and complications.