Drainage of body cavities has been practiced in medicine for a long time

Drainage of body cavities has been practiced in medicine for a long time. Historical reports of drainage of chest empyema and ascites go back to the Hippocratic era. During the last 2 centuries, surgeons also used drains for prophylactic purposes. Prophylactic drains have been employed to remove intraperitoneal collections such as ascites, blood, bile, chyle, and pancreatic or intestinal juice. These collections might become potentially infected or are, in the case of bile and pancreatic juice, toxic for adjacent tissue. Another potential function of prophylactic drains is their signal function to detect early complications, such as postoperative hemorrhage and leakage of enteric suture lines. Therefore, prophylactic drainage has gained wide acceptance as a useful method to prevent complications after gastrointestinal (GI) surgery.