Exclusive ambulatory management of spontaneous pneumothorax with pigtail catheters, a prospective multicentric study

Spontaneous pneumothorax occurs most frequently in young active patients. Published guidelines do not all agree about its initial management; most patients are hospitalised and treated with chest tube. This prospective multicentric cohort study was designed to assess the potential of ambulatory management.

We included all consecutive patients with large spontaneous primary (PSP) and secondary pneumothoraces (SSP) presenting at the Lorient, Vitré and Rennes hospitals between December 2013 and July 2016. They were treated with a small-bore pigtail catheter and one-way valve and managed as outpatients following a specific protocol. When this failed, patients were hospitalised on day 4 for suction and surgical pleurodesis was envisaged on day 6. Patients were followed-up for one-year to assess relapse.

Of the 148 patients included (129 PSP, 19 SSP), 122 (82⋅4%) were managed exclusively as outpatient with success in 84⋅5% of PSP and 68⋅4% of SSP patients. There were few complications: 13 vaso-vagal episodes and 3 minor bleedings. The one-year recurrence rates were 33⋅1% for PSP and 52⋅6% for SSP (p = 0⋅114 Hazard Ratio = 0⋅538; IC95% [0⋅249-1⋅161]).

These results are consistent with our previous study and confirm that this exclusive ambulatory management of spontaneous pneumothoraces can be successfully implemented in new centres with a high success rate and few complications.