[Regrowth of bullae around the staple-line is one of the causes of postoperative recurrence in thoracoscopic surgery for spontaneous pneumothorax].
Since August 1994, we have performed 65 thoracoscopic surgeries for spontaneous pneumothorax. Our operative method is partial resection of the lung with bullae using endoscopic autosuture. Three patients underwent reoperation because of persistent air leakage in one case and postoperative recurrences in two cases. In addition, we performed a second operation in one case that had undergone thoracoscopic surgery for spontaneous pneumothorax in another hospital. At the second operation, regrowth of bullae was found at the edge of staple-line in three of the 4 cases, and in one of these cases, such regrown bullae seemed to be a cause of recurrence of pneumothorax. The regrowth of the bullae was caused by incomplete resection at the initial surgery in one case. Such incomplete resection and oversight were not noticed in the review of the videotape of the initial surgeries in two cases. Reinforcement of the staple-line is necessary for prevention of recurrence of pneumothorax.
Sakamoto
K
K
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Yokohama Municipal Citizen's Hospital, Japan.
Kase
M
M
Mo
M
M
Kurata
H
H
Nagatomo
A
A
Kunikane
H
H
Okamoto
H
H
Watanabe
K
K
Tomiyama
I
I
Satoh
H
H
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001768:Blister / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011030:Pneumothorax / Q000601:surgery*; D012008:Recurrence; D012086:Reoperation; D013906:Thoracoscopy