Thoracic balls: Figure 1:

Approaching End-of-Life with Aplomb and Plombage

“…Based on the observation that patients with pulmonary tuberculosis were apparently cured after a spontaneous pneumothorax, methylmethacrylate (Lucite) balls were used in the early to midtwentieth century to collapse the infected lung, a practice known as Lucite-ball plombage. 1 Late complications of plombage include infection, fistulization, ball fractures, cancer involving the balls, and even migration outside the thoracic cavity. 2,3 Lucite-ball plombage was eventually deemed antiquated due to high complication rates and the advent of effective antituberculosis medications.…”