Spontaneous pneumothorax referred for surgery

ABSTRACT

Spontaneous pneumothorax is a one that is not due to trauma. It can be either primary where no cause can be found, or secondary to diseases like COPD and tuberculosis. It presents usually with chest pain and it can be accompanied by pleural effusion or haemothorax. ten patients of recurrent pneumothorax were operated on and then observed for a period up to nine months. During this period, data related to causes, risk factors, nature of pneumothorax and operation done were collected and analyzed. Patients were generally young, tall, and thin with slight male predominance. Pneumothorax was on the left side in half of the cases. The remainders were split between bilateral and right side. The commonest presenting symptom was chest pain followed by cough and shortness of breath. T.B. was the commonest cause of secondary pneumothorax in males while SLE was the commonest cause in females. findings of this study matched well with the findings of previous studies in the characteristics of patients. Yet, it showed that the most common cause of secondary spontaneous pneumothorax was T.B. in males and SLE in females. It also showed a good index of safety and a good prognosis in those treated surgically via classical thoracotomy. It was concluded that recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax is a disease that that can be treated easily and safely by surgery. Yet, meticulous look up and subsequently treatment of an underlying cause is an essential step of management as in the majority of cases recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax was merely a presentation of either a local or a systemic disease