Uniportal video-assisted thoracic surgery for pneumothorax and blebs/bullae

The last British Society of Thoracic Surgeons guidelines of 2010 for the management of primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) stated that, after the first recurrence, the treatment of PSP should be a surgical operation, like a bullectomy accompanying with a procedure for inducing pleural adhesions. Therefore, the surgical approach is considered the best treatment to minimise the risk of recurrence in patients who experienced a PSP. There is substantial evidence in the literature demonstrating that the minimally invasive approach should be preferred to the thoracotomic procedure since it can reduce the postoperative pain and it is associated with a faster recovery of the physical and working activity. The video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) approach has been shown to offer greater advantages about patient pain and respiratory function when compared to thoracotomic incisions. A single port or single incision or uniportal approach was developed as an alternative to the standard multi-port VATS. Uniportal technique has shown to be safe and efficient not only for pulmonary resections and biopsies but also for lobectomy. When used for PSP, the bullectomy/blebectomy and pleural abrasion/pleurectomy is performed through the single incision through which the chest drain is then inserted. In this perspective, evidence showed that the minimally invasive approach should be preferred, confirming the advantages in comparison with traditional techniques.