In Mearnskirk Hospital, Glasgow, 29 patients with postpneumonectomy empyema were treated by fenestration in a 12-year-period. Seven of these were not considered fit enough for definitive closure and died of continuing disease or respiratory infection. Twenty-two patients went on to closure of their fenestra, and in 17 (77%) the pneumonectomy space was rendered permanently sterile. If the empyem...

Five consecutive bronchopleural fistulas (BPFs) were successfully treated by injecting absolute ethanol directly into the submucosal layer of the fistula under flexible bronchoscopic observation. No complications occurred as a result of this treatment. Our nonsurgical treatment may be very useful to reduce the costs of and duration of hospitalization and to improve the patient's quality of life...

A 44-year-old female patient diagnosed as pulmonary lymphangioleiomyomatosis with respiratory failure underwent bilateral sequential lung transplantation using an entire left lung and a post-lower-lobectomy right lung due to pneumonia. Persistent air leakage during cough was noted and bronchoscopy 12 days after transplantation demonstrated post-lobectomy bronchial stump dehiscence with a large ...