**2. History**

The management of pneumothorax has seen large advancements over the past few decades. Surgical management of the disease did not begin until the 1940s when it was first documented by Tyson and Crandall in 1941 [7]. Treatment at that time involved a traditional transaxillary thoracotomy with resection of blebs. Later addition of pleurectomy or pleurodesis became routine in these patients. In the early 1990s, with the introduction of video-assisted thoracoscopy and mechanical stapling, minimally invasive chest surgery began to become popular for a variety of indications [8]. As a matter of fact, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) was first documented for pneumothorax [9]. Subsequently, VATS blebectomy, with the addition of pleurodesis or pleurectomy, began to take on popularity and remains often the choice of many. It was also demonstrated that VATS is superior to conservative treatment soon after [10].
