title: [Emergency Surgery and Treatments for Pneumothorax].
abstract: The primary care in terms of emergency for pneumothorax is chest drainage in almost cases. The following cases of pneumothorax and the complications need something of surgery and treatments. Pneumothorax with subcutaneous emphysema often needs small skin incisions around the drainage tube. Tension pneumothorax often needs urgent chest drainage. Pneumothorax with intractable air leakage often needs interventional treatments like endobroncheal occlusion (EBO) or thoracographic fibrin glue sealing method (TGF) as well as urgent thoracoscopic surgery. Pneumothorax with acute empyema also often needs urgent thoracoscopic surgery within 2 weeks if chest drainage or drug therapy are unsuccessful. It will probably become chronic empyema of thorax after then. Pneumothorax with bleeding needs urgent thoracoscopic surgery in case of continuous bleeding over 200 ml/2 hours. In any cases of emergency for pneumothorax, respiratory physicians should collaborate with respiratory surgeons at the 1st stage because it is important to timely judge conversion of surgical treatments from medical treatments.
authors.affiliation: Pneumothorax Research Center, Public Foundation Nissan Kohseikai Tamagawa Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Masatoshi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kurihara
mesh_terms: D015505:Chest Tubes; D004322:Drainage; D006801:Humans; D011030:Pneumothorax / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed