Lower incidence of late tamponade after cardiac surgery by extended chest tube drainage.

To ascertain whether extended chest tube drainage decreases the occurrence of late tamponade after cardiac surgery. All patients undergoing cardiac surgery at the Tampere University Heart Hospital, Tampere, Finland, between the 23 The occurrence of late cardiac tamponade was 8.8% following the short drainage protocol and 3.6% after the extended drainage protocol, p = .018. There were no statistically significant differences in the demographics, medical history, or the procedures performed between the study groups. The in-hospital mortality rate was 3.5%, the stroke rate was 2.1%, and the deep sternal wound infection rate was 1.7%, with no statistically significant differences between the groups. There were no differences in the need for reoperations for bleeding, infection rate, need for pleurocentesis, occurrence of atrial fibrillation, or the length of hospitalization between the groups. Longer mediastinal chest tube drainage after cardiac surgery is associated with a significantly lower incidence of late cardiac tamponade.