Simultaneous bilateral thoracoscopic blebs excision reduces contralateral recurrence in patients undergoing operation for ipsilateral primary spontaneous pneumothorax

Contralateral recurrence in patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax is approximately 15%. If positive for blebs, the recurrence rate increases to 26%. This study seeks to determine whether simultaneous contralateral video-assisted thoracic surgery blebs excision would effectively lower the contralateral incidence of pneumothorax in patients undergoing surgery for ipsilateral primary spontaneous pneumothorax. Between January 2009 and December 2015, 335 patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax, surgically treated in a single institution, were retrospectively studied. The median follow-up was 75 (50-99) months. All patients received video-assisted thoracic surgery blebectomy/bullectomy with pleural abrasions. They were classified into 3 groups: (1) ipsilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery without contralateral blebs/bullae included 142 patients with ipsilateral primary spontaneous pneumothorax without contralateral blebs/bullae only receiving ipsilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery; (2) ipsilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery with contralateral blebs/bullae included 123 patients with ipsilateral primary spontaneous pneumothorax with contralateral blebs/bullae receiving only ipsilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery; and (3) bilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery with contralateral blebs/bullae included 70 patients with ipsilateral primary spontaneous pneumothorax with contralateral blebs/bullae receiving 1-stage bilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery. Demographic data, perioperative details, recurrence patterns, recurrence-free survivals, and risk factors were compared. The percentage of contralateral recurrence for the ipsilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery without contralateral blebs/bullae, ipsilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery with contralateral blebs/bullae, and bilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery with contralateral blebs/bullae groups differed significantly (0.7%, 14.6%, and 2.9%, respectively; P = .002). Multivariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazard model revealed that age less than 18 years (hazard ratio, 2.71; 95% confidence interval, 1.14-6.44; P = .024) and ipsilateral video-assisted thoracic surgery with contralateral blebs/bullae (hazard ratio, 22.13, 95% confidence interval, 2.96-165, P = .003) were predictors of contralateral recurrence, of which recurrence-free survival was notably different among groups as determined by Kaplan–Meier analysis (P