[Video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for spontaneous pneumothorax].
We report our initial experience with thoracoscopic surgery in the treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax in 14 patients, mean age 30.7 years. 7 were operated following 2 episodes of spontaneous pneumothorax, 6 after their first episode, and 1 after multiple episodes. All underwent bleb resection, pleurodesis and tube thoracostomy; in 1 we converted to a limited thoracotomy (93% success rate). Only oral analgesia was required for postoperative pain control and patients were discharged 2.6 days after surgery, on average. The apparent superiority of thoracoscopic over conventional, even limited, thoracotomy seems to justify such therapy even during the first episode.
Hadassah University Hospital, Mount Scopus and Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem.
H R
HR
Freund
O
O
Zamir
Y
Y
Shifman
N
N
Beglaibter
Y
Y
Haskel
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010149:Postoperative Pain; D011030:Pneumothorax / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted; D016896:Treatment Outcome