A clinical and radiological study on spontaneous pneumothorax

ABSTRACT

A clinical and radiological study was done on 96 cases of spontaneous pneumothorax, encoutered in the Dept. ofRadiology, Busan National University Hospital during last 3 years from March. 1979 to March 1982. The results weresummarized as follows; 1. In the age distribution, the ages between 20 and 39 years were most highest, as 54 cases(56.3%). In the sex distribution, the ratio of male to female was 51 in male predominance. 2. The underlyingpathology of the total 96 cases of spontaneous pneumothorax were of tuberculous origin in 33.3% andnon-tuberculous origin in 66.7%. And below 20 years, most were of non-tuberculous origin. 3. In the cases of lungcollapse over 2/3, non-tuberculous origin was more than tuberculous origin and had characteristics of significantmediastinal shifting, in contrast to lower percentage of fluid level by chest radiography. 4. The rupture of blebsor bullae was the main immediate causes of spontaneous pneumothorax, independent of the underlying pathology. 5.In only 27 cases (28.1%) among total 96 cases, bullae or blebs could be detected on the chest radiography. 6. Intreatment of spontaneous pneumothorax, the closed thoracotomy with under water seal drainage is accepted to be thegeneral method of treatment. But open thoracotomy is considered as the best useful therapeutic procedure toprevent the recurrence, whenever bullae of blebs are found on the chest radiography. 7. In the cases of closedthoracotomy, the recurrent rate was 25.0% and most cases were found at the ipsilateral side of the first attack.8. Within a week, the collpased lung were well expanded in most cases of total 96 cases, after closed thoracotomy.