Wall suction-assisted image-guided thoracentesis: a safe alternative to evacuated bottles

Aim To compare the safety of evacuated bottle-assisted thoracentesis with wall suction-assisted thoracentesis. Materials and methods An institutional review board-approved, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant retrospective study of 161 consecutive patients who underwent 191 evacuated bottle-assisted thoracenteses from 1 January 2012 to 30 September 2012, and 188 consecutive patients who underwent 230 wall suction-assisted thoracenteses from 1 January 2013 to 30 September 2013 was conducted. All procedures used imaging guidance. Primary diagnosis, age, gender, total fluid volume removed, and adverse events (AE) up to 30 days post-procedure were recorded and graded using Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events 4. 0CTCAE 2. Results Overall AE rates were 42.9% (82/191) for the evacuated bottle group and 19.6% (45/230) for the wall suction group ( p< 0.0001). Grade I AE occurred more commonly in the evacuated bottle group than in the wall suction group, [41.9% (80/191) and 18.3% (42/230)], respectively ( p