Reduction of drainage-associated complications in cardiac surgery with a digital drainage system: a randomized controlled trial

Thoracic chest drains are placed after cardiac surgery allowing for the clearance of blood, fluid, and air to prevent post-operative complications. Despite its importance, there is little data on the application of digital chest drainage systems in cardiac surgery. Therefore, the differences between an analog and a digital chest drainage system in cardiac surgery patients were investigated in a randomized controlled trial. A total of 354 elective cardiac surgery patients were preoperatively randomized 1:1 between September 2016 and September 2017 to either an analog (Ocean) or a digital (Thopaz ) chest drainage system aiming to compare drainage-associated postoperative outcome parameters. A total of 340 patients were included in the analysis (analog: 188; digital: 152) with no significant differences in preoperative baseline parameters. Incidence of X-rays to detect air leaks was significantly lower in the digital group (analog: 20.2%; digital: 8.6%; P