Is Video-Assited Thoracoscopic Surgery Superior to Limited Axillary Thoracotomy in the Management of Spontaneous Pneumothorax?

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate bullectomy and pleurectomy in the treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax (PNO) using video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS), and to compare the outcome with that of the same procedure performed using limited axillary thoracotomy (LAT).DESIGN: A retrospective case series with patient follow-up.SETTING: A Canadian tertiary care hospital.PATIENTS: The medical records of all patients with a spontaneous PNO treated by either VATS or LAT at the Ottawa Hospital - General Campus, Ottawa, Ontario, between April 1993 and August 1999 were reviewed, and the patients were subsequently interviewed.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Operative details (length of operation, operative complications); postoperative details (duration of chest tube, length of hospital stay, duration of analgesia, pain, time missed from work, complications, recurrence rate); and cost (hospital and operative, socioeconomic [time missed from work]).RESULTS: Fifty patients were identified who had had surgical treatment of a spontaneous PNO. Twenty-eight patients were treated by LAT and 22 underwent VATS. The median length of follow-up was 44.6 months (range four to 81.5 months). Three patients developed a recurrent PNO - two patients after LAT and one patient after VATS. No difference was found between the two groups in the operating time or in the amount of pain experienced immediately after surgery. However, patients who underwent VATS had a shorter length of stay (P=0.002) and a shorter requirement for analgesics postoperatively (P=0.03). Overall, the total cost of VATS was no different than that for LAT; however, in terms of socioeconomic costs, patients in the VATS group missed significantly less time from work postoperatively (P=0.02).CONCLUSIONS: VATS offers a cost effective and better tolerated procedure for the management of spontaneous PNO than the time-honoured open technique.