Closed thoracic drainage in elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease complicated with spontaneous pneumothorax: A retrospective study

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) combined with spontaneous pneumothorax, is characterized by significant decline in lung function, and even cause cardiopulmonary failure and hypoxia. AIM: To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of central venous catheters and indwelling pleural catheters (IPC) in managing closed thoracic drainage in patients diagnosed with COPD with concomitant by spontaneous pneumothorax. METHODS: Retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical information of 60 elderly patients with COPD complicated by spontaneous pneumothorax admitted to the Shexian Branch of the second affiliated hospital of Zhejiang university school of medicine between March 2020 and March 2023. The clinical efficacy, complications, hospitalization duration, and costs were compared between patients with an indwelling thoracic catheter and those with a central venous catheter. Univariate logistic regression was used to analyze the causes of catheter displacement. RESULTS: According to our findings, there were significant differences in the IPC group’s clinical efficacy, catheter operation time, and lung recruitment time (P < 0.05). Comparing the complications after catheter treatment between the two groups revealed statistically significant variations in the incidence of postoperative analgesics, catheter abscission, catheter blockage, and subcutaneous emphysema in the IPC group (P < 0.05). Univariate analysis demonstrated significant differences between patients with and without catheter dislodgement regarding duty nurse’s working years (less than three), Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II) scores (less than 15), lack of catheter suture fixation, and the proportion of catheters not fixed twice (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated that when treating elderly COPD patients with spontaneous pneumothorax, indwelling thoracic catheters are more effective than the central venous catheter group. Patients’ catheter shedding is influenced by the primary nurse’s working years, APACHE II scores, and catheter fixation technique.