Abstract
We resected a bleb of a spontaneous pneumothorax by thoracoscopic surgery for a 21-year-old man. He had been diagnosed as having aplastic anemia nine years before. During the treatment of this disease, he also had hepatitis, necroses of bilateral femoral heads, and diabetes mellitus. The bone marrow transplant was performed in October 1990, and took a good course. However, during admission for the treatment for diabetes mellitus, left spontaneous pneumothorax occurred. The pneumothorax was improved by the conservative therapy, but it recurred after one month. As operations for necroses of the bilateral femoral heads were planned, curative therapy for the spontaneous pneumothorax was thought to be required to avoid the tension of pneumothorax during the general anesthesia for orthopedic surgery. Since he was considered to be a “poor risk”, resection of the bleb under thoracoscopic surgery using ENDO-GIA was chosen because of its lower invasiveness. He was discharged on the 8th postoperative day. He underwent two orthopedic operations as scheduled, but spontaneous pneumothorax did not recur. Although thoracoscopic surgery has not been discussed completely from the the statistical aspect of safety, it seems likely that this technique will be useful, especially for patients at poor risk.
