18 Sep 2007 04:00 PM
Keyhole Surgery Is Best Option For Recurrent Pneumothorax
Most cardiothoracic surgeons (80%) do not believe thoractomy is required for an optimal operation - a contrasting viewpoint from that reflected in existing guidelines from the British Thoracic Society. Recent evidence suggests that the time might be right for a revision of the 2003 BTS guidelines on this specific point.
The BTS guidelines refer to thoractomy and surgical pleurectomy as the "gold standard" and state that VATS must be evaluated against this standard. But a report in this month's edition of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine states that, in the 15 years since the introduction of video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS - sometimes called "keyhole and camera" surgery), practice has changed towards…
The BTS guidelines refer to thoractomy and surgical pleurectomy as the "gold standard" and state that VATS must be evaluated against this standard. But a report in this month's edition of the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine states that, in the 15 years since the introduction of video assisted thoracic surgery (VATS - sometimes called "keyhole and camera" surgery), practice has changed towards…
