Original Article

Safety and Effect of a Limited Minithoracotomy for the Treatment of Spontaneous Pneumothorax

Soo Seung Choi
Author Information & Copyright
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, College of Medicine Ewha Womans University, Korea.

Copyright ⓒ 1996. Ewha Womans University School of Medicine. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published Online: Jul 24, 2015

Abstract

Objectives

This study was performed to know the safety and efficacy of limited min-ithoracotomy, which is a new method of operative procedure modified from minithoracotomy.

Method

Eleven consecutive patients who underwent a limited minithoracotomy for the treatment of primary spontaneous pneumothorax from Jan.1.1994 to Dec.31.1995 were reviewed with medical records, laboratory and x-ray findings, and followed by reaching patient by phone or interviewing at the outpatient department.

Results

The indication of these consecutive 11 patients were recurrent pneumothrorax 4 cases, continuous air leaking 7 cases, and visible bullae on chest x-ray or chest CT 2 cases. There were 12 limited minithoracotomies in 11 patients including on bilateral limited minithoracotomy. Average operative time was 54 minutes. There was no conversion to extended thoracotomy from limited minithoracotomy. No postoperative bleeding or infection was oberved. One patient showed prolonged air leak after operation who had multiple bullae resected from his left upper and lower lung, and was discharged 18 days after operation with good condition. Another patient experienced air sucking during chest tube removal on 4th postoperative day and discharged on 9th day after operation. Other patients wre discharged within 5th postoperative day. Average hospital stay after operation was 5.4 days. All eleven patients were followed up for 12±7.7months. There was no recurrences of pneumothorax.

Conclusion

These results suggest that limited minithoracotomy is choice of treatment when primary spontaneous pneumothorax patient requires surgery.

Keywords: Spontaneous pneumothorax; Limited minithoracotomy