Clinical Reviews of Spontaneous Hemopneumothorax / 대한흉부외과학회지

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Spontaneous hemopneumothorax is a rare disease and can be life threatening; it occurs in 1~12% of patients with spontaneous pneumothorax. We analyzed clinical reviews and treatments, as well as complications of spontaneous hemopneumothorax patients that were treated to aid in the optimal management. MATERIAL AND METHOD: We studied retrospectively 30 cases with spontaneous hemopneumothorax for 11 years, from 1995 to 2006, at our hospital. RESULT: All the patients were male and most of the patients were under 30 years. The sides with the disorder were as follows right in 15 cases and left in 15 cases. Patients showed mostly initial symptoms of chest pain, dyspnea and hypovolemic shock. All patients underwent a closed thoracostomy and 27 patients underwent surgery. Chemical pleurodesis was performed because of postoperative persistent air leakage and one case was treated in the ICU due to re-expansion pulmonary edema. There were no other complications such as fibrothorax seen during the follow-up periods. CONCLUSION: The most important finding is proper initial management, as the spontaneous hemopneumothorax can potentially lead to a life-threatening condition. Recently, video assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is common procedure for general thoracic surgery and overcomes the weak points of performing a thoracotomy. The results of VATS are encouraging.