Clinical Trial: Study Designed to Optimize the Treatment of Primary Pneumothorax

Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Recruiting
Study Type: Interventional

Official Title: Thoracoscopic Treatment of Primary Pneumothorax - A National Randomised Controlled Trial

Brief Summary: Knowledge about incidence, risk factors and genetic predispositions of primary spontaneous pneumothorax in young adults is very limited, and treatment has also been controversial.The Aim of this study is to optimize the treatment, estimate the actual incidence, and identify possible risk factors including genetic predispositions.

Detailed Summary:

• Background Knowledge about incidence, risk factors and genetic predispositions of primary spontaneous pneumothorax in young adults is very limited, and treatment has also been controversial. Typically, the first incidence is treated conservatively with simple chest tube drainage and only if the disease reoccurs is surgery considered. However, conventional treatment may be associated with increased morbidity, prolonged hospitalization and many young adults are concerned about the high recurrence of this disease. The latter has been reported in as many as 25-35% of patients. Because spontaneous pneumothorax in young adults usually is associated with apical blebs, the investigators hypothesized that primary surgery (Video-Assisted Thoracoscopic Surgery = VATS) with resection of such blebs at the time of the first episode of pneumothorax might be an effective first line treatment associated with lower morbidity and shorter hospital stays, and a definite decline in recurrence rate.
• Method From July 2009 the investigators conducted a nationwide study , where 300 consecutive patients admitted to a Danish hospital with primary spontaneous pneumothorax undergo a high resolution CT of the thorax. Based upon the CT the patients are randomised to conventional conservative treatment (chest tube drainage) or primary VATS with bleb resection and mechanical pleurodesis.

Participants are followed for ten years. The primary endpoint is ipsilateral recurrence of pneumothorax. Secondary endpoints are length of hospitalization, duration of chest tube drainage and miscellaneous complications.

Simultaneously, a research biobank containing blood samples and pulmonary tissue is created for future studies of biomarkers and possible genetic causes.

All participants are followed 10 years from the initial discharge via Questionnaires