1995 Volume 9 Issue 7 Pages 808-812
112 of the 221 patients with spontaneous pneumothorax treated at this hospital were having their first episode. Sixty one patients (54%) recoverd with conservative therapy (non-VATS). Six (5 %) recovered naturally during observation. Twelve (11%) required needle aspiration, 43 (38%) tube thoracostomy and 51 VATS, 23 of them was the following non-surgical treatment. In 28 patients VATS treatment after informed consent had been obtained. The time required for tube thoracostomy and hospitalization for the VATS group was less than that for either the group given only medical treatment or the group which underwent both VATS and medical treatment (p<0.001). Spontaneous pneumothorax recurred in none of the 21 patients who were followed after VATS. The rate of recurrence for the medical treatment and VATS groups differed significantly. No patient treated with VATS developed complications. With informed consent, VATS is thus considered to be the first choice of treatment for first spontaneous pneumothorax because of it is minimally invasive.
