Limitations
hemothorax
HEMOTHORAX, MINOR, COMPLICATION, COMPLICATIONS
This study has some limitations. We identified chest tube duration as a clinically useful primary outcome that is both easy to quantify and standardize; therefore, we intend to use chest tube duration as the primary outcome in the future multicenter trial. Due to the small sample size and skewed mean values in this pilot study, the power calculation will have to be based on cumulative historical data. Another limitation of this study is the use of the Ottawa classification of thoracic morbidity and mortality for categorizing complications. This classification was designed for postoperative thoracic surgery complications, and it is also based on the severity of the complication being proportional to the effort to treat it. We would consider a hemothorax due to IPFT to be a significant complication; however, since IPFT was stopped and there was no further treatment, this complication is categorized as minor. We used this classification in an attempt to standardize categorization of complications for comparison purposes.