[Repeated paracentesis and total parietal pleurectomy in treatment of patients with primary pneumothorax--late results].

Out of 235 patients discharged from the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Silesian Medical Academy, after treatment of primary spontaneous pneumothorax between 1981 and 1993, 232 (98.7%) answered our questionnaire and so were included in the study. Mean follow-up time was 10.4 years. No recurrence of the disease was reported by any of 79 patients who had been treated by surgical procedure/thoracotomy plus pleurectomy/, but 21 (14.3%) out of 147 treated by paracentesis reported a recurrence of pneumothorax. In 17 patients the recurrence was the first-time case, in 3 the second-time, in 1 the third-time. Out of 232 patients, 10 (4.3%) had a recurrence of pneumothorax on the opposite side. Achieving expansion of the lung, 80% of the patients reported no problems at all. Only 6 (2.6%) of the whole group stated they could no longer work in their profession because of the pneumothorax they had suffered in the past.