The approach to the spontaneous pneumothorax in period of compulsory public service

Aim: There is air in the pleural space without an external effect in the case of spontaneous pneumothorax, and it is important in terms of treatment, clinic, and underlying diseases in thoracic surgery. In this study, it was aimed to present the approach to the patients with spontaneous pneumothorax in the period of compulsory public service. Material and method: The patients who were treated with spontaneous pneumothorax between June 2017 and January 2018 in our clinic were included in this study. Gender, age, smoking status, type of treatment and length of hospital stay were recorded. Result: 18 patients (2 female, 16 male) were included in the study. Eleven of the patients (61.1%) were smoking. Surgical treatment was applied to 7 (38.8%) of the patients. As a surgical approach, videothoracoscopic wedge resection and partial pleural decortication in 5 patients, videothoracoscopic bulla ligation and partial pleural decortication in 1 patient and thoracotomy bulla ligation in 1 patient were applied. Ten patients were treated with tube thoracostomy and one patient was treated with nasal oxygen. Complications did not occur in the patients. Conlusion: Spontaneous pneumothorax is a disease requiring urgent diagnosis and treatment. The purpose of the treatment is to provide the lung totally expanded and to prevent recurrence of pneumothorax. Tube thoracostomy is usually the first approach, but we recommend that the videothoracoscopic surgery can be used in the conditions of the public hospital because of its advantages for the patients who have surgical indications