Penrose drain

A Penrose drain is a surgical device, named for the American gynecologist Charles Bingham Penrose (1862–1925), placed in a wound to drain fluid. It consists of a soft rubber tube placed in a wound area, to prevent the build up of fluid.

Common uses

A Penrose drain removes fluid from a wound area. Frequently it is put in place by a surgeon after a procedure is complete to prevent the area from accumulating fluid, such as blood, which could serve as a medium for bacteria to grow in.

In podiatry, a Penrose drain is often used as a tourniquet during a hallux nail avulsion procedure or ingrown toenail extraction.

It can also be used to drain cerebrospinal fluid to treat a hydrocephalus patient.

Fluid does not flow within the lumen of the tube but travels around the outside by capillary action. Hence, drainage is relative to the external surface area of the tube.

Misuse

A Penrose drain can be used to foil DNA blood tests. John Schneeberger, a physician who raped a patient, avoided conviction several times by implanting a 15 cm Penrose drain filled with another man's blood and anticoagulants in his arm. During tests, he several times tricked the laboratory technician into taking the blood sample from the place the tube was planted. He was eventually convicted on the basis of DNA samples taken from hair and saliva, and confessed how he had foiled the blood tests.