Long-term assessment of needle VATS for spontaneous pneumothorax

Abstract

From January 1997 to March 2001, we treated 159 cases with a spontaneous pneumothorax, 81 cases by normal video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS), and 78 cases by Nd: YAG laser through a needle thoracoscope (mini-VATS). All cases underwent chest CT for preoperative examination. Normal VATS was performed for patients with bullae > 2 cm on chest CT. Mini-VATS was performed for the other patients. Recurrence occurred in 8 cases after mini-VATS (8/78, 9.8 %) and in 12 cases after normal VATS (10/78, 12.5 %). The recurrence rate was acceptable as it was similar to that in the 1990's. However, it is higher than that for thoracotomy. For better results, both mini and normal VATS require some additional techniques, for example, covering with something, reconsidering the appropriate method for the bullae condition, and so on.