Bronchial stump insufficiency after pneumonectomy is a severe problem and there is still debate about the appropriate method (transthoracic or transsternal) for reclosure. Access through a sterile operative field for a successful redo-procedure seems to be important so an alternative to the open methods could be the video-mediastinoscopy as it allows approaching the bronchial stump via the medi...

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 ...

Objective: The development of a bronchopleural fistula is a devastating complication after lung resection. We describe a new method of buttressing the closure of the stump in diabetic patients using a pedicled internal mammary artery buttress flap to avoid a bronchopleural fistula. Methods: An internal mammary pedicled flap was used in 14 diabetic patients of lung resection to cover the bronchi...

In 10 out of 295 patients (3.4%), followed-up after radical resection for non-small cell bronchial carcinoma in the period from 1980 until 1986, bronchial stump recurrence developed. A good relationship was found between relapse time (4-52 months) and distance between the primary tumour and bronchial resection line (1-7 cm) (i.e. 5-8 months.cm-1) in 8 of the patients (p less than 0.01). The mea...

We read with interest the paper by Bai et al. [1] regarding the efficacy of surgery, mainly pneumonectomies, in the treatment of tuberculosis (TB)-destroyed lungs and we congratulate them on their results. One of the most dreaded complications after pneumonectomy is the bronchopleural fistula (BPF), and this is particularly true for pneumonectomies performed for infectious diseases including TB...

Andreetti et al. regarding the treatment of post-pneumonectomy bronchopleural fistula (PPBPF) by self-expandable stent and we agree that this modality can be in the armamentarium of cardiothoracic surgeons [1]. PPBPF is one of the most serious and lethal complications in thoracic surgery. There are well-known predisposing factors related to this devastating postoperative complication such as ex...

To assess whether there is any difference in postoperative morbidity and mortality after pneumonectomy between patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and patients with non-tuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections. Between January 2000 and December 2007, 61 patients with MDR-TB and 60 patients with NTM infections underwent 66 and 64 pulmonary resections, respectively. Of these...

pneumonectomy and co-factors. The manual closure seems to be the more preferable method in high-risk patients. An additive support suture following stapling on the bronchial stump did not decrease the risk of BPF. Deschamps et al. [7] analysed factors affecting the incidence of empyema and BPF after pneumonectomy in 713 patients who underwent pneumonectomy for different conditions. Univariate a...

AIM OF THE STUDY This study aimed to prospectively investigate the clinical outcomes of curative radical helical tomotherapy (HT) applied to recurrent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) at the bronchial stump site after right pneumonectomy. After right pneumonectomy, the heart shifted right laterally. The chambers of the heart closed with a recurrent mass at the bronchial stump were the right a...