Active clearance of chest drainage catheters reduces retained blood.

Objective: Chest tubes are used to clear blood from around the heart and lungs after heart surgery, but they can be obstructed by a blood clot, leading to retained blood syndrome (RBS). We sought to examine the frequency of RBS and associated morbidity, and to determine the influence of a preventative active chest tube clearance (ATC) protocol on these outcomes.

Methods: A multidisciplinary team developed a simple protocol to institute ATC to preventatively clear chest tubes of clot during the first 24 hours after heart surgery.