Objective To evaluate whether surgical intervention can be performed in initial onset of primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) patients and whether pleural abrasion should be performed regularly in PSP treatment. Methods The clinical data of 326 PSP patients undergoing bullectomy or bullectomy combined with pleural abrasion (BLPA) between January 2008 and December 2013 were retrospectively reviewed. There were 267 males and 59 females, with a mean age of 24 years ranging from 20 to 31 years. Results The initial onset of PSP was in 229 patients, and recurrent PSP in 115 patients. Ten patients had postoperative PSP recurrence after a mean follow-up of 47 months ranging from 1 to 95 months. For the patients with initial onset of PSP, the recurrence rate was 3.1% (7/229), and that in patients with recurrent PSP was 2.6% (3/115, P=0.82). Compared with the bullectomy group (5.8%, 7/120), recurrence rate in the BLPA group was lower (1.3%, 3/224, P=0.02). There were no mortalities or significant complications in both groups. There was significant difference in body mass index (P=0.04), intraoperative adhesion (P<0.05), operation duration (P<0.01), number of bullae (P<0.01), and bullae location (P<0.01) between bullectomy and BLPA groups. Postoperative drainage (P<0.01), air leak (P=0.01) and extubation duration (P<0.01) were significantly lower in the bullectomy group. Total cost was significantly higher in the BLPA group (P<0.01). Conclusion Surgical intervention could provide satisfactory outcomes for PSP patients. Compared with bullectomy, BLPA has much lower recurrence rate, but with more drainage, longer drainage duration and higher cost.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the efficacy, safety, and long-term recurrence rate of thoracoscopic bullae resection combined with parietal pleurectomy or pleural abrasion for the treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax. MethodsRelevant literatures were searched in PubMed, Web of Science, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, CNKI, Wanfang and VIP databases from the establishment of each database to February 1, 2025. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, the literatures were screened. Meta-analysis was conducted using Review Manager 5.3 software, and the quality of the literatures was evaluated using the Cochrane Bias Risk Assessment Tool and the NOS scale. ResultsA total of 23 articles were included, including 6 randomized controlled studies and 17 retrospective cohort studies, with NOS scores≥7. A total of 3 296 patients were enrolled, including 1 245 in the parietal pleurectomy group and 2 051 in the pleural abrasion group. The meta-analysis results showed that the pleural abrasion group had shorter operation time [MD=19.68, 95%CI (14.12-25.25)], less intraoperative blood loss [MD=11.31, 95%CI (4.20-18.41)], lower postoperative pain score [MD=0.48, 95%CI (0.04-0.91)], lower total postoperative drainage volume [MD=44.31, 95%CI (11.92-76.71)], shorter postoperative drainage time [MD=0.32, 95%CI (0.03-0.60)], and shorter hospital stay [MD=0.40, 95%CI (0.23-0.57)] compared with the parietal pleurectomy group, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). In terms of safety, the parietal pleurectomy group increased the incidence of postoperative pulmonary hemorrhage [OR=3.99, 95%CI (1.49-10.65), P<0.05], but there were no statistically significant differences in the incidence of postoperative atelectasis, pneumothorax leakage and pulmonary infection (P>0.05). In addition, the parietal pleurectomy group could effectively reduce the long-term recurrence rate of patients [OR=0.48, 95%CI (0.36-0.64)], and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). ConclusionDecortication inevitably imposes a greater perioperative burden on patients with spontaneous pneumothorax and pulmonary bullae, yet it effectively reduces the risk of postoperative recurrence. While both surgical approaches exhibit similar safety profiles, parietal pleurectomy may elevate the risk of postoperative pulmonary hemorrhage. Therefore, the optimal treatment strategy should be determined based on individual patient characteristics.