Current opinion and comparison of surgical procedures for the treatment of primary spontaneous pneumothorax.

INTRODUCTION: Although three-port video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) is the standard radical treatment for primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP), several issues need to be addressed as the postoperative recurrence rate remains relatively high. Although bullectomy is effective in preventing the postoperative recurrence of PSP, recurrent pneumothorax often occurs, requiring additional methods such as pleural covering with absorbable mesh sheets, surgical chemical pleurodesis, pleural abrasion, or pleurectomy. In addition, minimally invasive approaches that exceed three-port VATS are required according to the social demand. These approaches, such as uniportal VATS, reduced port surgery, and needlescopic surgery, have cosmetic merits, lower postoperative pain, and similar surgical results as three-port VATS.

AREAS COVERED: We focused on conventional and novel treatments for PSP in this article.

EXPERT OPINION: Effective methods that prevent postoperative recurrence and minimally invasive approaches will become popular in the near future.