![]() The size of the air leak in ml/breath is displayed on the controller unit. This device represents the “brains” of the Digivent. It has a tear-shaped device called the controller unit. The Digivent is a new pleural drainage system ( Figure 2). Other digital chest tube drainage systems are on the way. It is currently available for sale in Europe and the United States. Recently, Millicore, a Swedish company, developed the world’s first FDA approved digital air leak measurement system. Given the trend in the third millennium towards digitalization in many facets of life and especially in science, it is no surprise that several companies have applied digital technology to objectively measure the size of an air leak out a chest tube. For example, it is not uncommon for physicians to ask one another as they stare at an air leak chamber, "Was there really a bubble on that breath, was there really a leak, or was it just a momentum leak and the clearing of air with the first cough?" Often one experienced observer at the bedside will report a leak while another disagrees. ![]() ![]() Yet, despite the dramatic advance that the air leak meter has provided in the management of patients with leaks, the presence or absence of a leak still has subjective overtones and has not been completely quantified. Only the most sophisticated drainage systems for chest tubes have an air leak meter ( Figure 1). Despite the development and adoption of a classification system for air leaks and several recent prospective randomized studies that have evaluated different chest tube settings to best treat them physicians are limited by the available technology that measures the air leak. Figure 1: The Sahara S-1100 Deknatel drainage system with the 7 chamber air leak meter.Īlthough air leaks remain the most common complication after pulmonary resection, they have received little scientific study until recently.
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