Role of Eloesser flap and thoracoplasty in the third millennium

In the modern era of thoracic surgery, few indications remain for thoracoplasty. Indeed, many surgeons believe that the resulting deformity outweighs the usefulness of collapse therapy. Rather than trying to obliterate chronic spaces, these surgeons advocate myoplasty techniques to fill the space. Unfortunately, these techniques are not minor procedures and two to three operations are often necessary to solve the problem. This is the reason why thoracoplasty remains the best option in selected patients. In some cases, it should be a first-line procedure rather than as a last resort when everything else has failed. In their discussion of the article by Horrigan and Snow [31], Pairolero and Trastek [44] summarized well the current attitudes toward these different concepts: "Although management of the chronically infected pleural space has changed over the years, the goals of therapy remain the same to conserve the patient's life with a healed chest wall without evidence of infection. Determination of which techniques are necessary to achieve these goals must be tailored to the individual patients."