Study	Reason for exclusion
Angelillo 1996	Compared 2 surgical treatments
Bagheri 2013	Patients that failed to recover after 2 weeks of thoracostomy were randomised to receive either VATS or ongoing medical management.
Bouros 1997	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Bouros 1999	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Chin 1997	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Cho 2000	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Davies 1997	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Diacon 2004	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Hewidy 2014	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Lin 2011	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Maskell 2005	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Mathew 2015	Paper was a commentary of a RCT.
Minchev 2004	Compared 2 surgical treatments
Misthos 2005	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Nandeesh 2013	Trial was not randomised.
Rahman 2009	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Rahman 2011	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Sahn 1998	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Shah 2006	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Singh 2004	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Talib 2003	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Thommi 2012	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments
Thomson 2002	Compared 2 non‐surgical treatments

RCT: randomised controlled trial
 VATS: video‐assisted thoracoscopic surgery