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Is Chest Tube Insertion With Ultrasound Guidance Safe In Patients Using Clopidogrel?, Wissam Abouzgheib, Yousef R. Shweihat, Nikhil Meena, Thaddeus Barrter
Is Chest Tube Insertion With Ultrasound Guidance Safe In Patients Using Clopidogrel?, Wissam Abouzgheib, Yousef R. Shweihat, Nikhil Meena, Thaddeus Barrter
Internal Medicine
Background and objective: Drainage of the pleural space is a common procedure.The safety of chest tube insertion in patients using clopidogrel has not been investigated.
Methods: Ultrasound-guided chest tube insertions performed on 24 patients who were being actively treated with clopidogrel were retrospectively reviewed.
Results: No excessive bleeding occurred in any of these patients.
Conclusions: Given the known effects of clopidogrel on platelet function, these results were interpreted as indicating that clopidogrel therapy is a relative but not an absolute contraindication to chest tube insertion, if an experienced operator places a small-bore tube under ultrasound guidance.