Video assisted thoracoscopic surgery vs thoracotomy in management of post traumatic retained hemothorax: a randomized study

Background Retained hemothorax is a serious problem that can lead to empyema or fibro-thorax. Evacuation of the retained hemothorax is commonly performed via open thoracotomy. This randomized study was conducted to represent our center's expertise with this issue, we compared the outcomes of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) against open thoracotomy in managing post-traumatic retained clotted hemothorax. Methods This prospective randomized research was conducted on sixty cases with posttraumatic remaining clots of at least 500 ml or at least one-third of haemothorax that cannot be evacuated by a chest tube after 72 h of first intervention, as detected by computed tomography imaging who underwent open thoracotomy or VATS in the management of posttraumatic retained clotted hemothorax. Cases were allocated to equal groups; group A: cases who underwent VATS and group B: cases who underwent open thoracotomy. Results Preoperative intercostal chest tube (ICT) placement period was insignificantly different between the two groups. Group A had a significantly lesser post-operative amount of ICT drainage, and ICT was removed after significantly fewer days than in group B ( P value