Which option best describes the primary goal of chest tube management in a pneumothorax?

• A. Increase pleural space air
• B. Keep chest wall immobile
• C. Worsen leak to prompt drainage
• D. Re-expand the affected lung and stop air or fluid leakage

Answer: (C)

The main idea is to allow the collapsed lung to re-expand while stopping the ongoing escape of air or fluid from the pleural space. A chest tube provides a controlled conduit for air and fluid to exit the pleural space, and, with an underwater seal or suction, it prevents air from re-entering. This restoration of negative intrapleural pressure lets the lung re-expand and reduces the pneumothorax.

Increasing the pleural space air would worsen the pneumothorax, so that option isn’t the goal. Keeping the chest wall immobile isn’t how chest tubes work, since the tube’s purpose is drainage and re-expansion, not immobilization. Intentionally worsening the leak would be dangerous and counterproductive to treatment. The correct concept is re-expansion of the affected lung and cessation of the air or fluid leak.