[Minimally invasive surgery in persistent pneumothorax and pneumocystis carinii infection].

The most frequent pulmological complication of AIDS is pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (PCP), which in 2% of cases will cause a spontaneous pneumothorax. Every AIDS patient who develops a pneumothorax is highly suspicious for a pneumocystis carinii pneumonia too. We describe the case of an AIDS patient who suffered from pneumothorax caused by PCP. Conventional tube thoracostomy with continuous suction and tetracycline pleurodesis were unsuccessful. The patient recovered however after resection of PCP cysts in the apical upper lobe and talcum pleurodesis by means of minimally invasive surgery.