In patients with spontaneous pneumothorax, the primary therapeutic approach is chest tube thoracostomy.
Prolonged air leak and recurrent pneumothorax are the main indications for the operative procedure.
Material Method: In this study 90 patients that were treated at Inönü University, Turgut Özal Medical Center,
Department of Thoracic Surgery between January 1999- December 2004 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients
were evaluated according to age, gender, localization, etiology of pneumothorax, indications for the operation,
operative procedures, and postoperative complications were analyzed. Seventeen patients were operated for the first
episode. In 24 patients of 73 patients managed without surgery, recurrent pneumothorax was developed. Of these
patients, 15 were operated on for their second or third episode. Thirty-two patients underwent to the operative
procedures. In six patients, postoperative complications developed. Complication rate was %18.7. One of them
died because of empyema and cardio-respiratuar failure. No recurrence was noted in operated patients. The second
episode incidence was 34.2%, the third episode incidence was %61.1.
Conclusion: In patients with spontaneous pneumothorax, primary the therapeutic approach is chest tube
thoracostomy. If the patients are not managed surgically for second episode , recurrence rate is over 50% for the
third episode. Therefore surgical intervention should be considered for the second episode. In properly selected
cases, operative procedures are therapeuticly effective and associated with low morbidity rate and low mortality rate
and low recurrence rate.
Key Words: Pneumothorax, Recurrent, Surgery, Treatment
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