Surgery on Pulmonary Tuberculosis: A Review of 19 years's Experience

폐결핵(肺結核)의 외과적(外科的) 요법(療法)

The author reviewed 263 cases of pulmonary tuberculosis operated on at the Department of Thoracic Surgery, Seoul National University Hospital during the 19 year period, from January, 1957 to December 1975. Following observations were made: 1) The sex ratio was 2.8: 1 in male's favor, and 83.6% of the patients were between 20 and 49 years of age. 2) The trends in operative procedures revealed that surgical collapse as a definitive therapy of pulmonary tuberculosis has virtually disappeared and operations required for residuals of pleural diseases have increased. 3) The overall hospital mortality rate was 3-8%. The highest mortality rate was encountered in the cases of resection and decortication with 28.6%, 4) The rate of overall postoperative complications was 24.7%, the highest being encountered in decortication with 56.4%. 5) The most frequent cause of death was bleeding, while the dead space was the most frequent complication.