Spontaneous pneumothorax and fibrin glue sealant during thoracoscopy

The prophylactic treatment of the application of fibrin glue to the pulmonary surface during thoracoscopy in idiopathic spontaneous pneumothorax resulted in rapid and total pulmonary expansion in 33 of 35 patients. The 2 failures were due to apical cysts larger than 2 cm. The successfully treated patients were hospitalized for a median of 4 days (range 2-12). No complications were observed. All regained full working capacity within 1 month of discharge. Post-treatment X-ray examination of the chest was uniformly normal. During an observation time ranging from 7-24 months (median 12 months), 3 recurrences (9%) were seen at 7, 12, and 16 months, respectively. The treatment seems (1) to reduce the need for thoracotomy (2) to be associated with a high success rate, short and long-term, (3) to minimize the duration of hospital stay and (4) not to disturb the normal pleuro-pulmonary anatomy.