Surgical treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax: ten-year experience.

n = 16, 3.8%), tube thoracostomy ( n = 372, 89.2%), multiple tubes ( n = 29, 7.0%), blood pleurodesis ( n = 13, 3.1%), midsternotomy ( n = 3, 0.7%), and minithoracotomy ( n = 92, 22.1%). Primary indications for operation were recurrent SP ( n = 49) and persistent air leak ( n = 46). Blebs or bullae were found in all patients and were ablated by stapling. Pleural abrasion was also performed. All showed good lung expansion postoperatively. Perioperative mortality was zero. The mean hospital stay was 6.5 days. Follow-up of 89 patients who had undergone surgical treatment (93.7%) at 1 to 100 months revealed only one recurrence. Tube thoracostomy is still the treatment of choice for SP. Surgical intervention is recommended only in cases of recurrent SP or persistent air leak. Minithoracotomy is a safe surgical approach with satisfactory cosmetic results.