Abstract
An 80-year-old man was admitted to our hospital for palpitation and chest discomfort. A chest radiograph showed a left lung pneumothorax, and chest CT showed a left lung pneumothorax and bullae of the left upper lobe. A chest tube thoracostomy was placed immediately.
This was the fourth left spontaneous pneumothorax he had experienced. This time, we performed adhesion therapy for the pneumothorax, because he was 80 years old and was complicated by myelodysplastic syndrome. However, persistent air leak continued for 7 days following chest tube insertion. We performed thoracograpic studies, and bubbles were produced from one of the bullae of the upper lobe.
Considering his age, condition, respiratory function, myelodysplastic syndrome, and performance status, we carried out the ligation of bullae in the upper lobe by video-assisted thoracic surgery under local anesthesia only.
The patient's postoperative course was uneventful, and he was discharged from the hospital on the 5th postoperative day.
