Most minimally invasive chest surgeries require drains, mainly to drain the localized postoperative exudate so as not to affect the postoperative recovery.
Most of the minimally invasive chest surgeries are less invasive, but there are cases of postoperative traumatic exudate, so the drains need to be prevented at the end of the surgery so that the traumatic exudate can flow out of the body.
If the postoperative exudate cannot flow out of the body in time, a small amount of chest exudate can be self-absorbed, but a large amount of exudate may cause localized infection, which may affect the postoperative recovery.
However, there is also a part of minimally invasive chest surgery without placing drains. It mainly depends on the intraoperative treatment of the lesion and hemostasis. If the intraoperative operation damage is small, hemostasis is sufficient, and the amount of postoperative exudate is very small, the drain may not be placed.