Abstract

Spontaneous pneumothorax is a common disease in young people. Operative intervention has been done in most of the recurrent cases. Recently, thoracoscopic treatment has been tried for minimal intervention. Thermal coagulation shrinkage of blebs was thought to be effective for sealing, but contact-type electrocautery risks perforation of blebs. A noncontact laser would seem to be ideal for this purpose. We had to take account of the light property of blebs in selecting the type of laser: if its penetration depth is too deep, laser light would penetrate the bleb wall and cause injury in the base lung; if penetration depth is too small, only the surface of bleb would be vaporized causing perforation of the bleb wall. From spectrophotometry of blebs, the absorption coefficient of the carbon monoxide laser was 10 cm, which was equivalent to the thickness of blebs.

© 1992 Optical Society of America