Initial Experience of Single-Incision Thoracoscopic Surgery for 100 Patients with Primary Spontaneous Pneumothorax.

Yamazaki, Koji; Haratake, Naoki; Shikada, Yasunori; Mori, Ryo; Kouso, Hidenori; Shoji, Fumihiro; Takeo, Sadanori

PURPOSE The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate single-incision thoracoscopic surgery (SITS) for primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP). METHODS Among 141 patients who underwent surgery for PSP from July 2009 to December 2013, a total of 100 patients underwent SITS. Their data were examined for clinical characteristics and surgical results. RESULTS More patients with younger age, female sex, and who had social indications were treated by SITS than by three-port video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). The mean operative time for SITS was 48.8 min. There were no conversions from SITS to three-port VATS or thoracotomy. After SITS, the median duration of chest drainage was 1 day, and the median hospital stay was 2 days. Early complications included one surgical-site infection and one case of air leakage. Four patients (4.0%) had ipsilateral recurrence of PSP. CONCLUSION SITS is feasible when performed for selected patients with PSP. Long-term follow-up and further examinations are required to evaluate patient selection, efficacy, and comparability of SITS with conventional open and three-port VATS approaches.