Surgery question: what does it mean for a chest tube to have an "air leak"

[studylol]

Hello friends,

I'm reading Pestana's surgery notes. An air leak from a chest tube is suggestive of traumatic rupture of the trachea or major bronchus.

A chest tube is designed to draw fluid from the pleural space, correct? So when he writes an "air leak" from the chest tube, does this mean the leak is noticed because there is a lot of air coming from this chest tube indicating continuous fluid coming from the trachea/bronchi?

tldr: what does air leak from chest tube mean?

thanks!

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[deep582]

A chest tube is designed to draw fluid from the pleural space, correct?

Yes, chest tubes can be used to drain pleural fluid, but they are also used to help resolve persistent pleural air (pneumothorax). This is particularly true when the tracheobronchial tree is disrupted (e.g. post-operatively) which causes air to leak out of the tracheobronchial tree into the pleural space during each inspiration. The best way to resolve this is to place a chest tube and wait for the tracheobronchial tree to heal. If one puts in a chest tube and notices a large amount of air coming out of the chest tube continuously, one can infer the air is coming from a tracheobronchial rupture.

Hope this helps