Re-discovering the heimlich valve: Old wine in a new bottle

Abstract

A 14-year-old boy came to our outpatient department with pleuritic chest pain and dyspnea. He was found to have a loculated empyema on the right side. He was taken up for surgery and decortication was done. He developed air leak in the postoperative period. When the air leak did not settle until the 10th day, we decided to attach the atrium Pneumostat™, a modified version of the Heimlich valve to his Intercostal drainage tube and sent him home. On further follow-up, his lung expanded, and ICD could be removed. The patient remains well until the current follow-up. We present this case in an attempt to change the perceptions about various options available to drain the chest. The Heimlich valve appears to be a more compliant option than the conventional underwater seal drainage in terms of early mobility, reduced length of stay, and patient compliance.

Keywords

• Decortications
• empyema
• Heimlich valve
• intercostal drainage
• underwater seal