Small-diameter Closed Thoracic Drainage Tube Fixation Method

The steps were as follows: i) elastic cotton tape (3M 2733-25 Japan Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) was used at the proximal 15 cm from the incision, with 5 × 2.5 cm pieces glued to the skin and fixed with the drainage tube using surgical knots; ii) the distal end of the ligation was fixed using the same method, while the ligation position was higher than the first; iii) the ligature point was fixed next to the elastic soft cotton tape (5 × 5 cm), using the high-platform method to fix the drainage tube, with the drainage tube curved; and iv) the drainage tube between the two fixed points was inserted with a specific radian.

In terms of the control group, two lines of flexible cotton tape (3M 2733-25 Japan Ltd., Tokyo, Japan) measuring 10 × 2.5 cm were used, and the drainage tube was fixed parallel to the long axis and glued to the middle-position 360° winding tube once the drainage tube was 0.5 cm higher than the surrounding skin. Next, the drainage tube was fixed at both ends to the patient's skin using adhesive tape. Then, the tube and the adhesive plaster were overlapped vertically and horizontally, the tube was inserted, the adhesive plaster was added, and then the chest tube was fixed on the adhesive plaster by knotting the interspersed cotton rope, which was equal to indirectly fixing the tube on the patient's skin