Abstract

Prolonged Air Leakage is an important morbidity reason in the primary spontaneous pneumothorax. The aim of this study was to identify factors contributing to prolonged closed intercostal tube drainage. The clinical trial comprised of 32 patients with primary spontaneous pneumothorax between April 2002 and July 2005. They were analyzed according to age,sex, smoking history, percentage of pneumothorax, age of pneumothorax, way of tube thoracostomy, number of patients who had recurrent pneumothorax, pre-treatment Sp02 values, closed intercostal tube drainage duration and methods of treatment. We found that smoking history, percentage of pneumothorax and pre-treatment Sp02 values were risk factors for prolonged closed intercostal tube drainage duration. But there was no statistically significant relation between prolonged closed intercostal tube drainage duration and the age of pneumothorax, way of tube thoracostomy and number of patients who had recurrent pneumothorax. Patients who have history of smoking, subtotal or total pneumothorax, and low pre-treatment Sp02 values may have prolonged closed intercostal tube drainage duration.