Catamenial pneumothorax: retrospective study of surgical treatment

BACKGROUND: Catamenial pneumothorax is a rare entity characterized by recurrent accumulation of air in the thoracic space during menstruation. Catamenial pneumothorax is also associated with a high rate of postoperative recurrence. The aim of this study was to discuss the etiology and to determine the optimal surgical treatment of this entity. METHODS: From December 1991 to September 2000, 10 patients with catamenial pneumothorax were treated at our institution. Median age at time of operation was 37 years (range, 21 to 44 years). We retrospectively evaluated the pathologic findings, the operation performed, and the results in all patients. The mean follow-up was 55.7 months. RESULTS: Pleurodesis alone was performed in 5 patients and an associated diaphragmatic procedure was performed in 5 patients. In 5 patients, no diaphragmatic anomaly was discovered: 3 experienced one or more recurrences and all still suffer from chronic catamenial chest pain. Hormonal therapy temporarily improved outcome for 6 months in 2 patients. On the contrary, in 5 patients surgical pleurodesis was associated with the repair of diaphragmatic defects (simple closure or coverage by a polyglactin mesh): these patients experienced no recurrence (n = 0/5, p = 0.0016) and no subsequent catamenial chest pain. CONCLUSIONS: The postoperative outcome is influenced by the diagnosis of diaphragmatic defects with or without endometriosis. Surgical treatment should be accomplished during menstruation for an optimal visualization of pleurodiaphragmatic endometriosis. Because diaphragmatic lesion is frequent and may be occult, we propose the systematic coverage of the diaphragmatic surface by a polyglactin mesh to prevent catamenial pneumothorax recurrence even when the diaphragm appears normal.     

Video-assisted thoracic surgical treatment of initial spontaneous pneumothorax in young patients

BACKGROUND: The treatment of primary spontaneous pneumothorax in young adults has been controversial. Conventional treatment consisting of chest tube thoracostomy may be associated with morbidity at the time of tube insertion, prolonged hospitalization, and interval operation in many patients. As spontaneous pneumothorax in young adults is usually associated with apical blebs, we hypothesized that video-assisted thoracic surgical (VATS) resection of the blebs at the time of the first pneumothorax may be an effective treatment associated with low morbidity and short hospital stays. METHODS: From July 1992 to February 2001, 156 young adults were treated for spontaneous pneumothorax. Within 12 hours of presentation to the emergency department patients underwent semielective VATS with bleb resection and pleuradesis. During follow-up patients were observed for recurrent pneumothorax. RESULTS: There were 69 men (44%) and 87 women (56%). The median age was 19 years old (range 14 to 38 years old). Patients were predominantly tall and thin. Patients were mildly symptomatic at the time of presentation. Apical blebs were seen in all patients and the presence of blebs was confirmed in the pathologic specimen. In 23 patients bleeding was associated with bleb rupture. There were no postoperative air leaks. The mean hospital stay was 2.4 +/- 0.5 days. Follow-up ranged from 2 to 96 months (median 62 months). There were no recurrences on the index side. CONCLUSIONS: VATS resection of apical blebs is associated with low morbidity and short hospitalization and provides an attractive alternative to the conventional treatment of initial tube thoracostomy and possible interval repeat thoracostomy or operation. VATS may be an effective first line treatment for spontaneous pneumothorax in young adults. Due to the pathophysiology of this disease, patients should be closely followed for the occurrence of pneumothorax on the contralateral side.     

手术治疗肺大疱自发性气胸54例临床分析

目的分析不同手术方式治疗肺大疱自发性气胸的效果。方法选取2014-05—2016-05间行手术治疗的54例肺大疱自发性气胸患者,按不同术式分为胸腔镜组29例和开胸组25例,比较2组的治疗效果。结果胸腔镜组的手术时间、术中出血量、术后第1天引流量和术后住院时间均明显优于开胸组,差异有统计学意义(P0.05);2组术后带胸管时间及并发症发生率差异无统计学意义(P0.05)。患者均治愈出院。结论胸腔镜或开胸手术治疗肺大疱自发性气胸均可获满意效果,但胸腔镜治疗手术时间、术中出血量、术后第1天引流量及术后住院时间优于开胸手术。     

Comparative study of talc poudrage versus pleural abrasion for the treatment of primary spontaneous pneumothorax

Primary spontaneous pneumothorax is a pathology mainly affecting healthy young patients. Clinical guidelines do not specify the type of pleurodesis that should be conducted, due to the lack of comparative studies on the different techniques. The aim of this study was to compare talc poudrage and pleural abrasion in the treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax. A retrospective comparative study was performed, including 787 patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax. The 787 patients were classified into two groups: Group A (pleural abrasion) n = 399 and Group B (talc pleurodesis) n = 388. The variables studied were recurrence, surgical time, morbidity and in-hospital length of stay. Statistical analysis was done by an unpaired t-test and Fisher's exact test (SSPS 18.0). Statistically significant differences were observed in the variables: surgical time (A: 46 ± 12.3; B: 37 ± 11.8 min; P < 0.001); length of stay (A: 4.7 ± 2.5; B: 4.3 ± 1.8 days; P = 0.01); apical air camera (A: 25; B: 4; P < 0.001); pleural effusion (A: 6; B: 0; P = 0.05). Talc poudrage shows shorter surgical times and length of stay, and lower re-intervention rates. Morbidity is lower in patients with talc poudrage. Statistically significant differences were not observed in recurrence, persistent air leaks, atelectasis and haemothorax.     

Surgical treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax

Experience obtained from surgical treatment of 107 cases of spontaneous pneumothorax is reported in this paper. Surgical approaches depended on primary disease, rate of recurrence, and localisation. Chemical pleurodesis was performed in addition to cautious pulmonary resection on 44 patients, while partial or sub-total pleurectomy was performed on 41 patients for prophylaxis against recurrence. Additional interventions, including decortication, were necessary in many cases. Three patients were sternotomised for bilateral processes.     

Drug pleurodesis, an alternative to surgical treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax]

The article describes the method of drug pleurodesis and determines the indications for its application. Study of the late-term results and the drawn conclusions provide evidence that the method of drug pleurodesis may de an alternative to operative treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax.     

不同术式治疗自发性气胸的对比研究

目的　比较前 /后外侧切口开胸、腋下小切口开胸和电视胸腔镜手术治疗自发性气胸的临床效果。方法　 89例自发性气胸患者接受外科治疗 ,其中 3 4例施行常规前 /后外侧切口开胸 ,3 1例行腋下小切口开胸 ,2 4例行电视胸腔镜手术治疗。对比各组切口长度、术中出血量及术后胸液量、哌替啶用量、拔管时间、住院天数等指标。结果　腋下小切口开胸组和电视胸腔镜组在上述指标等方面均明显优于常规开胸手术组 (P <0 .0 1) ,而腋下小切口开胸组和电视胸腔镜组之间无显著差别 (P >0 .0 5 )。结论　手术治疗自发性气胸疗效肯定 ,腋下小切口开胸术更经济、简单 ,符合现阶段多数病人的实际经济承受能力以及医疗安全和质量的需要 ,值得推广应用     

The use of perioperative ketorolac in the surgical treatment of pediatric spontaneous pneumothorax

Background

We sought to determine the effect of ketorolac on pediatric primary spontaneous pneumothorax recurrence after operation.

Surgical treatment of bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax

88 cases of bacterial spontaneous pneumothorax, 20 cases, occurred same time and 68 cases, occurred different time, were treated in our Department of Thoracic Surgery from 1975 to July 1987, and represented 16.6% of all cases of spontaneous pneumothorax. The characteristics of bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax, occurred same time, were as follows; 1) frequent in teens, 2) often occurred with history of unilateral spontaneous pneumothorax, 3) slightly collapsed. For the treatment of bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax, occurred same time, bilateral thoracotomy was necessary. The characteristics of bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax, occurred different time, were as follows; 1) frequent in the twenties, 2) often occurred the other side after unilateral thoracotomy within a year. For the treatment of bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax, occurred different time, if the patient is under 20 thoracotomy must be carried out, but if the patient is over 20 at the side of pneumothorax must be operated.     

Surgical treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax]

70 patients with spontaneous pneumothorax were treated surgically. They were cured without complications. The recurrence rate was 1.2%. The authors stressed the timely surgically treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax and suggested suture-ligature and incision-suture of lung bulla. Pulmonectomy should be avoided, while parietal pleura denudation, and chemical cauterization are used to prevent recurrence. Two patients with bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax operated successfully were described in detail.     

Management of surgical approach for intractable secondary spontaneous pneumothorax

Secondary spontaneous pneumothorax (SSP) such as lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM), bronchiolitis obliterans (BO) is intractable or repeated the recurrence of pneumothorax. The most effective chemical pleurodesis for intractable pneumothorax is talc poudrage and so on that is associated with a reduction in the rate of pneumothorax recurrence. However, severe and broad pleural adhesion due to the pleural interventional procedures sometimes cause serious bleeding when the patients undergo lung transplantation. We must be considered for new approaches to these intractable secondary pneumothoraces which replaced traditional conservative and surgical approaches. We had proposed new 2 approaches of total pleural covering (TPC) and awake surgical intervention (ASI) for intractable pneumothorax. We applied the TPC modified with coverage of air leak points with polyglycolic acid (PGA) sheet to 5 patients with intractable bilateral pneumothorax to reduce the risk of excessive bleeding by chemical pleurodesis in lung transplantation. The bilateral pneumothorax was well controlled, and no recurrence has been observed. TPC is reliable procedure for management intractable bilateral SSP. For 12 high-risk patients with other underling pulmonary diseases on general poor conditions, a surgical intervention was performed in awake condition. The air leaks were stopped in 11 cases except for 1 case. The recurrence of pneumothorax after surgery was 2 cases. ASI for intractable secondary pneumothorax can be applicable to selected patients with deteriorated general condition.     

Thoracoscopic treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax in children

Background/purpose

This study describes the authors experience and results with thoracoscopic treatment of spontaneous pneumotrorax (SP) in 22 children.

Methods

A total of 32 thoracoscopic procedures were performed in 22 children. The patients ranged in age from 9 to 21 years at the time of their first thoracoscopy. SP was primary in 9 and secondary in 13 patients. Pleurodesis was performed in all thoracoscopies using talc in 28 and pleural abrasion in 4 procedures. In 2 of these, apical pleurectomy was added to abrasion. Blebectomy was the additional surgical procedure associated with pleurodesis in 4 patients.

Results

Thoracoscopy usually was performed with the patient under general anesthesia. In children with severe respiratory insufficiency, regional anesthesia was used. The mean operative time was 42.6 minutes (range, 8 to 114 minutes). The mean time of postoperative chest tube drainage was 4.6 days (range, 2 to 12 days). Three patients with cystic fibrosis had prolonged air leak lasting longer than 7 days after thoracoscopy. None of them required an additional surgical intervention, and the air leak ceased in 8, 8, and 12 days with continuous suction. One patient required a repeat thoracoscopy for bleeding from an intercostal artery on postoperative day one. The mean follow-up was 4 years (range, 2.5 months to 14 years). There have been 2 partial recurrences (6.25%), both in patients with secondary SP, which were treated by a repeat thoracoscopy and talc pleurodesis.

Conclusions

Thoracoscopic treatment of SP is safe and effective in children. It can be performed under regional anesthesia also in children with severe respiratory insufficiency. Because the complications and recurrences are encountered more frequently in children with an underlying lung disease, special care in surgical manipulation is required in this subgroup of patients with SP.