[The efficiency of complex treatment of tuberculous spontaneous pneumothorax and its complications]

The incidence of spontaneous pneumothorax and pleural empyema and the outcomes of their medical and surgical treatments in 1982 to 2003 were studied in 541 patients with destructive pulmonary tuberculosis. In the past decade, the incidence of spontaneous pneumothorax and pleural pneumonia has increased from 2.6 to 12.1% due to the aggravated epidemic situation and the worse structure of pulmonary tuberculosis. The clinical severity of the disease and the extent of a pulmonary-and-pleural process did not allow radical reparative operations to be performed in 11.3%. Complex medical and surgical treatment for pulmonary tuberculosis complicated by spontaneous pneumothorax and pleural empyema could yield good and fair results in 71.5% of patients with severe pulmonary-and-pleural comorbidity despite high hospital mortality (17.2%).