Abstract
One of the most discouraging features of the surgical treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis is the failure of apical cavities to collapse completely following paravertebral thoracoplasty. In a fairly large proportion of the cases in which there is a cavity of large size, on examining the postoperative roentgenograms, one finds that the cavity is reduced to one half or one third or even one fourth of its former dimensions. It is a natural tendency to regard this as a good result, and the surgeon is inclined to consider the case as satisfactorily completed and to hope that in the following six months the remaining space will close in by natural processes of fibrosis and shrinking of the whole lung. Too often, however, this further collapse does not occur, the patient continues to raise several ounces of sputum every day, and the cavity is found to be just as large as it
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