Enhanced recovery after surgery and chest tube management

This review documents the relationships between enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) pathways, chest tube management and patient outcomes following lung resection surgery. ERAS pathways have been introduced to mitigate the harmful stress response that occurs following all major surgery, including lung resection. Improvements to the entire patient pathway, from the preoperative admission clinic through to discharge and beyond, can have additive or synergistic effects and result in improved patient outcomes, reduced length of stay and lower costs. At the same time, there are some key care elements that appear to be more important than others. In the postoperative period, early removal of chest tubes, early mobilization, and limited use of opioids are all independently important factors. These elements of care are all intertwined. Therefore, a focus on proactive chest tube management with the abandonment of conservative chest tube strategies should be a focus of postoperative ERAS pathways. This can be achieved with single tubes, no routine suction, the use of digital drainage systems, and removal of tubes even in the presence of relatively high serous pleural fluid outputs. The goals of early mobilization and opioid-sparing analgesia are more readily achieved once a chest tube has been removed. The result is superior patient outcomes with significantly fewer complications.