A combined chest drain and intrapleural catheter for post-thoracotomy pain relief.

This study examined the effectiveness of a new type of chest drain, which incorporates an additional lumen within its wall to facilitate the administration of intrapleural bupivacaine. Nine patients who received a bolus dose of 1.5 mg.kg-1 bupivacaine with 1:200,000 adrenaline through this chest drain used less morphine, and had lower visual analogue pain scores in the first 6 h after thoracotomy than patients in whom a standard chest drain had been used. Bupivacaine levels were found to be within safe limits in all patients.