Is prophylactic treatment of contralateral blebs in patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax indicated?
J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg
; 139(5): 1241-5, 2010 May.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-19765740
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
More than 50% of patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax have contralateral blebs/bullae, and about a quarter will develop a contralateral pneumothorax. The purpose of this prospective study was to determine the need for elective treatment of asymptomatic contralateral blebs/bullae in patients presenting with primary spontaneous pneumothorax.METHODS:
From May 2006 through June 2008, results from 35 patients with ipsilateral primary spontaneous pneumothorax without contralateral blebs receiving unilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery, 35 patients with ipsilateral primary spontaneous pneumothorax with contralateral blebs receiving unilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery, and 16 patients with ipsilateral primary spontaneous pneumothorax receiving bilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery for positive contralateral blebs were collected. Their demographic and operating data were also recorded.RESULTS:
There was no significant difference in age, gender, smoking percentage, body mass index (kg/m(2)), blood loss, and postoperative pain among groups. There was longer operative time and length of stay in group receiving bilateral surgery. Within the follow-up period of 16.68 +/- 9.91 months (median, 17.50), no recurrence on either lung was found in the group operated on both sides, while contralateral occurrence was found in 17.14% of the group with ipsilateral primary spontaneous pneumothorax with contralateral blebs receiving unilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery within the period of 18.15 +/- 8.07 months (median, 21).CONCLUSION:
The study showed that the preemptive video-assisted thoracic surgery for the contralateral blebs/bullae effectively prevented the contralateral occurrence.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumothorax
/
Blister
/
Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted
/
Lung Diseases
Type of study:
Observational_studies
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
En
Journal:
J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg
Year:
2010
Document type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Taiwan