Chest
Clinical InvestigationsCivilian Spontaneous Pneumothorax: Treatment Options and Long-term Results
Section snippets
Methods
The medical records of 130 patients with 168 occurrences of SP were reviewed from May 1973 to May 1984. All of these patients, except the observation group, were treated by the thoracic surgical service of St. Joseph's Hospital, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Patient information was obtained from the hospital chart and physician office records. Follow-up was from a minimum of 30 months to 13 years (mean 6.3 years). Patients excluded from the study were infants and neonates, those with a recent history
Results
All patients presented with the complaint of chest pain, dyspnea or both. There were 97 (74.6 percent) male and 33 (25.4 percent) female patients treated (p<0.001). Eighty-nine (68.5 percent) were less than 50 years of age and 41 (31.5 percent) were older than 50. As demonstrated in Figure 1, there is a bimodal age distribution representing two separate groups of patients. There is a younger group with a prevalence in the third decade and an older group with a cluster in the seventh to ninth
Discussion
During the past 30 years, most published reports on the treatment of SP have come from the military hospitals. Our data demonstrate marked demographic differences in civilian patients who present with spontaneous pneumothorax. These differences have made an impact on the therapeutic options used.
Although our data confirm that SP is a maledominant disease, the percentage of females (25.4 percent) is significantly higher than the 10 percent incidence reported previously by Mills et al.2 Smoking
References (17)
- et al.
Spontaneous pneumothorax
Am J Surg
(1983) - et al.
Spontaneous pneumothorax: a series of 400 cases
Ann Thorac Surg
(1965) - et al.
Recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax in the high-risk patient: management with intrapleural Quinacrine
J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg
(1973) - et al.
Tetracycline versus silver nitrate pleurodesis in spontaneous pneumothorax
J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg
(1983) - et al.
Catheter aspiration for simple pneumothorax
J Emerg Med
(1986) - et al.
Indications for surgical intervention in spontaneous pneumothorax
Surg Clin N Am
(1961) - et al.
Experiences in the management of recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax
J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg
(1961) The management of spontaneous pneumothorax
Chest
(1970)
Cited by (111)
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Comparing Pigtail Catheter and Chest Tube as the Initial Treatment for Pneumothorax
2018, ChestCitation Excerpt :In the traumatic subgroup, the RR of success rate between the PC and LBCT groups was 0.97 (95% CI, 0.86-1.08), with acceptable heterogeneity (I2 = 35%). In the spontaneous pneumothorax subgroup consisting of seven studies,3,9,12,14-17 the RR was 1.06 (95% CI, 0.95-1.18), with low heterogeneity (I2 = 0%). In the iatrogenic pneumothorax subgroup that consisted of only one study,13 the RR was 0.97 (95% CI, 0.72-1.31).
Initial management of spontaneous pneumothorax
2015, The Lancet Respiratory MedicineA novel finding related to bulla and bleb formation in patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax
2021, BMC Pulmonary MedicineRecurrence of primary spontaneous pneumothorax following bullectomy with pleurodesis or pleurectomy: A retrospective analysis
2021, Journal of Thoracic Disease
Presented in part at the 54th Annual Scientific Assembly, American College of Chest Physicians, Anaheim, October 3–7, 1988.
revision accepted April 7.