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Case Reports

Simultaneous Bilateral Spontaneous Pneumothorax With Pleural Window Communicating With Bilateral Pleural Spaces

^a Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tokai University Hachioji Hospital, Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan
^b Tokai University School of Medicine, Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan

Accepted for publication October 8, 2007.

^_* Address correspondence to Dr Yamada, Department of Thoracic Surgery, Tokai University Hachioji Hospital, 1838 Isikawa, Hachioji, Tokyo, 192-0032, Japan (Email: yamada.shunsuke{at}hachioji-hosp.tokai.ac.jp).

A pleural window communicating between bilateral pleural cavities is a serious condition in patients with pneumothorax, allowing air to leak from the affected lung into the contralateral pleural cavity and resulting in bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax. We treated a patient with a history of right-sided bullectomy for simultaneous bilateral spontaneous pneumothorax that subsequently recurred. A pleural window (1 cm long) was detected in the mid-mediastinum, and direct suture closure with localized pleural abrasion using argon beam coagulation on the circumference of the lesion was performed at video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.