Clinical study and operative indication of bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax

Abstract

One hundred and fifty patients with bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax (SP) were studied. There were 8 synchronous and 142 metachronous cases at our hospital from 2001 to 2009. The highest frequency occurred between the teens and twenties. The mean interval between the initial and contralateral SP was 47.3 months, ranging from 2 days to 32 years. The mean interval for those in their teens and twenties was shorter than in the group aged over 30 years. Regarding the results of treatment for metachronous SP, the rate of recurrence on the initial SP was low, and the rate of recurrence on the contralateral SP was high.