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Chemical pleurodesis for first presentation of primary spontaneous pneumothorax

  • Pleural Diseases and Mesothelioma (G Lee, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) most commonly occurs in young, tall, lean males. The PSP recurrence rate varies between 16 and 52 % after the first episode. This high recurrence rate has stimulated the development of different therapeutic approaches, ranging from simple aspiration to invasive therapies, including chemical pleurodesis or surgery. Chemical pleurodesis is a procedure which uses sclerosing agents to cause adhesion between the two layers of the pleura. Traditionally, chemical pleurodesis for PSP has been recommended only if the patient is unwilling or unable to undergo surgery. However, several prospective, randomized trials have shown that additional chemical pleurodesis following simple aspiration or chest tube drainage is a safe and more effective initial treatment for PSP than simple aspiration and drainage alone and significantly reduces pneumothorax recurrence and subsequent thoracic surgery. In this article, the role of chemical pleurodesis in the first presentation of PSP is reviewed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, New Taipei City, Taiwan

    Cheng-Hung How

  2. Division of Thoracic Surgery, Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University College of Medicine, No. 7, Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei, Taiwan

    Cheng-Hung How & Jin-Shing Chen

  3. Department of Traumatology, National Taiwan University Hospital, No. 7, Chung-Shan South Road, Taipei, Taiwan

    Jin-Shing Chen

Authors
  1. Cheng-Hung How
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  2. Jin-Shing Chen
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Correspondence to Jin-Shing Chen.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Pleural Diseases and Mesothelioma

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How, CH., Chen, JS. Chemical pleurodesis for first presentation of primary spontaneous pneumothorax. Curr Pulmonol Rep 4, 10–14 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13665-015-0103-y

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