Artificial Pneumothorax as a Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

Abstract

Artificial pneumothorax therapy consists in the repeated injections of a slowly absorbable gas into the pleural cavity to permit and maintain for an indefinite period the collapse of a diseased lung. The investigations which form the basis of this paper were undertaken to determine the exact contributory value of this treatment ; and although equally willing to deny the efficacy of the method, should our result so persuade us, we conclude on the contrary that the establishment of artificial pneumothorax is a procedure of unquestionable value in selected cases. The element of rest is now generally accepted as an important feature in the therapeutics of all tuberculous infections. A striking example of this is found in the promptness with which an acute tuberculous infection of the hip or knee joint is quieted by rest from the application of a plaster cast. The immobilization or splinting of a tuberculous lung, whether