The present-day usage of pneumothorax in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.

The patient with tuberculosis must heal himself. Collapse measures help in the healing process by making the environment of the tubercle bacilli in the lungs more intolerant of multiplication and spread. The usage of pneumothorax has decreased; ten years ago it was used for over 50 per cent of patients, now for less than 10 per cent. This reduction in usage is not a condemnation of the procedure but an index of the more judicious application of the treatment as adjuvant to other accepted forms of therapy. Pneumothorax, because it is so versatile and flexible, lends itself most effectively to combination with other collapse procedures. Its use for well selected purposes is still indicated, but in much more narrow limits than previously applied.