[A device to prevent an air-leakage after a thoracoscopic surgery for spontaneous pneumothorax].
OBJECTIVE
In a thoracoscopic surgery for the patient with spontaneous pneumothorax, an air-leakage from the staple-line is one of the most troublesome complications. Recently we have been using a polyglycolic acid (PGA) sleeve for staple-line reinforcement. The purpose of this study was to investigate an efficacy of staple-line reinforcement in the patients who underwent thoracoscopic lung resection using an automatic stapler.


OBJECTIVE
Last 4 years, 55 patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax underwent thoracoscopic surgery using an automatic stapler. PGA sleeve was used in 19 patients as PGA group, fibrin glue was applied to the staple-line in 6 patients as fibrin group and no staple-line reinforcement was applied in 30 patients as no-reinforce group. We investigated the efficacy of staple-line reinforcement according to the results after surgery in these 3 groups.


RESULTS
Average drainage time in PGA group, fibrin group and no-reinforce group were 2.1, 2.2 and 2.8 days, respectively. In PGA group, the drainage time after surgery tended to be short term. The relapse of pneumothorax after surgery developed in 2 patients in PGA group (10.5%) and 8 patients in non-reinforce group (26.7%). In PGA group, the relapse after surgery tended to be low rate.


CONCLUSIONS
Bioabsorbable PGA sleeve could be an useful device for a staple-line reinforcement in the patients who underwent lung resection using automatic stapler.
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Kansai Medical University, Moriguchi, Japan.
K
K
Minami
Y
Y
Saito
Y
Y
Shomura
H
H
Imamura
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000388:Air; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011030:Pneumothorax / Q000601:surgery*; D011100:Polyglycolic Acid / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013528:Surgical Staplers; D017792:Surgical Stapling; D013906:Thoracoscopy; D013908:Thoracotomy / Q000295:instrumentation*
D011100:Polyglycolic Acid