Abstract：Objective To design and develop a portable thoracic drainage device and evaluate its applicability on a canine hemopneumothorax model.Methods A new portable thoracic drainage device was designed, which was composed of the drainage tube, tube core, fixed board and folded drainage bag. Adult dogs were chosen to establish a canine hemopneumothorax model, which were randomly divided into the control group and experimental group (n=6).The control group was treated with traditional closed drainage operation, while the experimental group was treated with the designed device. The drainage effect was compared between the two groups in terms of the duration of surgery, drainage volume and pulling force. Meanwhile, the hemostasis effect was determined.Results Compared with the control group, the duration of surgery in the experiment group was shortened significantly, while the bearing capacity against pulling force was increased obviously. However, the drainage volume showed no significant difference between the two groups. The device produced a confirmed hemostasis effect due to the introduction of chitosan.Conclusions The new thoracic drainage device for battlefields is user-friendly, fixable and portable, exhibits similar drainage effect to traditional closed drainage operation and shows hemostasis effect, which might be worthy of clinical application.
2018, Vol. 29 
