Chest Tube Question

[lima470]

Hi all,

I recently encountered a situation with a patient. I work in an ICU. This patient was on a ventilator and was pretty sick. The chest tube was kinked and therefore stopped working. The patient had no symptoms (cardiovascular collapse etc.) except a low 02sat. I noticed it was kinked and straightened it out. Pt's 02 sat starts to improve. Lung re-expands. The patient then probably 30 mins later begins to have problems with blood pressure and BP quickly drops from 60's to 30's and the pt dies despite resuscitative efforts. I am wondering for my own learning do you think the partial pneumothorax could have caused the circulatory collapse? I know it is possible to not have symptoms resolve immediately after lung re-expansion. This patient was pretty unstable and on a lot of pressors. I feel guilty for not noticing the tube was kinked under the gown. What do you think?

[8mpg]

The odds of that happening are very slim. I dont believe this would be the cause of the drop in b/p. I have seen some large pneumothoraxes resolve with a chest tube and it doesnt happen.

[ckh23, BSN, RN]

Sounds like coincidence if they were already that sick.