Simple aspiration versus leaving a drainage tube in (intercostal tube drainage) for primary spontaneous pneumothorax in adults without obvious underlying lung disease

When air collects between the lung and the chest wall (the pleural space) this is described as a pneumothorax. This may be caused by trauma or lung disease, but sometimes it happens spontaneously without any obvious cause. When this happens the lungs cannot expand properly, which makes it difficult to breathe effectively. The person becomes breathless and has chest pain. It is important to treat the pneumothorax by removing the collection of air and allowing healing of the pleura, a thin membrane that covers the lungs to make a lining for them in the chest. For initial management where medical intervention is needed, the air can be removed either by simple aspiration, drawing the air out through a thin tube, or by insertion of a much larger chest tube in the space between the ribs (intercostal tube drainage). Both are done using local anaesthesia. Simple aspiration is technically easier to do. The review authors searched the medical literature and identified one randomized controlled study eligible for inclusion. The included study comprised a total of 60 patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax; 27 of these underwent simple aspiration and 33 underwent intercostal tube drainage. The review found that simple aspiration is immediately as effective as intercostal tube drainage for primary spontaneous pneumothorax. However, simple aspiration is associated with less likelihood of being hospitalized. There was no significant difference between the two treatments with regard to the following: duration of hospitalization, early failure rate and one year success rate. The inclusion of only one small study in this review may have led to important differences between these two treatments being undetected.