RT Journal A1 ISELIN M, ARP CR T1 PArtial thoracoplasty without deformation JF Archives of Surgery JO Archives of Surgery YR 1939 FD September 1 VO 39 IS 3 SP 353 OP 361 DO 10.1001/archsurg.1939.01200150032002 UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archsurg.1939.01200150032002 AB All surgical methods pass through three stages: first, the pioneer stage, during which the surgeon is happy if the operation has been successful, that is to say, if the patient has survived it; then the second stage, in which, the rate of mortality having diminished, the surgeon endeavors to render the operation more efficacious, and finally the third stage, in which he tries to perform an efficacious operation with as little mutilation as possible.Surgical treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis has already passed the first two stages. It no longer endangers life, and it is efficacious. This is the result of thirty years of continued effort on the part of surgeons all over the world. At present the problem consists in performing the operation without mutilating the patient.Examination of a patient on whom a routine thoracoplasty has been performed reveals that the deformity he presents is due to three causes: