• Vanessa Pereira de Lima, Daniela Bonfim, Thais Telles Risso, Denise de Moraes Paisani, Julio Flavio Fiore, Luciana Dias Chiavegato, and Sônia Maria Faresin.
• Escola Paulista de Medicina, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brasil.
• J Bras Pneumol. 2008 Dec 1; 34 (12): 1003-7.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the influence of pleural drainage on the distance covered on the six-minute walk test, pain intensity and vital capacity in patients submitted to pulmonary resection.MethodsThirteen consecutive patients from the Thoracic Surgery Infirmary of Hospital São Paulo, Brazil, submitted to closed pleural drainage (0.5-in multiperforated chest tube) in the postoperative period following pulmonary resection (lobectomy, segmentectomy and pulmonary nodule resection) were evaluated. The decision for chest tube removal followed clinical criteria defined by the surgical team, who did not participate in the study. Vital capacity, pain intensity (using a visual analog pain scale) and the distance covered on the six-minute walk test were determined 30 min prior to and 30 min after the removal of the chest tube. The statistical analysis was performed using paired t-tests, and the level of significance was set at 0.05.ResultsAfter the removal of the chest tube, the visual analog scale pain scores were significantly lower (3.46 cm vs. 1.77 cm; p = 0.001) and the distance covered on the six-minute walk test was significantly higher (374.34 m vs. 444.62 m; p = 0.03). Vital capacity prior to and after chest tube removal was not significantly affected (2.15 L and 2.25 L, respectively; p = 0.540).ConclusionsThe results of the present study suggest that the presence of a chest tube is a factor significantly associated with postoperative pain and functional limitation in patients submitted to pulmonary resection.

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