Current status of parietal pleurectomy in recurrent pneumothorax.

Parietal pleurectomy was devised as definitive treatment in a series of 50 patients with persistent or recurrent pneumothorax. There have been no significant complications; 3-5 year follow-up has shown no recurrence, indicating that pleurectomy is a safe and reliable procedure and preferred to chemically or mechanically induced pleuritis because it entails fewer complications and shortens hospitalization.