[Spontaneous pneumothorax; to operate or not?].

Disagreement remains on the best mode of therapy for spontaneous pneumothorax (SP). Treatment options vary from observation alone to thoracotomy depending on the stage of the disease and the preference of the physician. Between 1983 and 1988, 122 patients with SP were treated at the Elisabeth Hospital Tilburg according to a fixed protocol.

The femoro-femoral cross-over bypass.

From 1984 to 1990 64 patients (56 men and 8 women) with a mean age of 67.1 years (36-88 yrs.) were treated with a femoro-femoral cross-over bypass (45 primary and 19 secondary procedures).

Ascites after pleuroperitoneal shunting.

If conventional therapy fails in patients with intractable malignant pleural effusion, the pleuroperitoneal shunt is a valuable alternative. In a 59-year-old man with disabling malignant pleural effusion, massive ascites developed shortly after insertion of a pleuroperitoneal shunt. This shunt was replaced by a pleurovenous shunt.