[Chest wall tumors. Report of 17 cases]

The aim of this work was to evaluate the different approaches to surgical repair of the thoracic wall and to discuss technical indications. From June 1987 to June 1997, we cared for 17 patients, 14 males (82.3%) and 3 females (17.7%) with parietal neoplasia. All patients underwent a preoperative respiratory work-up to identify tumoral extension. In 6 patients, the morphology and location of the tumor led to CT-guided transthoracic needle aspiration. Tumoral excision in 14 patients (82.3%) included wide resection of osteomuscular structures. Reconstruction of the thoracic wall associated myoplasty in all cases. A prosthesis was installed in 5 cases and a rib transposition in 2. Pathology examination of the surgical specimen revealed 13 primary tumors (76.5%) and 4 secondary tumors (23.5%) CT-guided transthoracic needle aspiration confirmed the diagnosis in 82.2% of the cases. Twelve patients (70.5%) were alive and recurrence free at 85.6 +/- 40 months after surgery. Five patients died (29.5%) 12.2 +/- 10.1 months after surgery. There was one case of prosthesis infection (5.8%). The appropriate choice of the surgical technique and repair materials gave satisfactory oncological, esthetic and functional results independently of the extent of the parietal defect.

[A rare cause of hemoptysis]

The existence of a bronchial foreign body is an unusual cause of haemoptysis. We observed a sixty two year-old women who presented several medium-abundance haemoptysis. They were associated with a systematic alveolar-interstitial radiological picture of the ventral upper right lobe. A right upper lobectomy showed that an old bronchial foreign body (piece of bone) was responsible for the systematic intra-alveolar bleeding. Though most of the breathed foreign bodies are expressed into immediate symptoms, some of them remained undiagnosed and may be responsible for haemoptysis, infectious complications, atelectasis and for bronchiectasis. Their extraction through endoscopy or most often surgery is necessary for a proper recovery. In spite of histopathological differences between foreign bodies, broncholithiasis and lung tumor the diagnosis may be difficult clinically and on radiology.

[Pleuro-peritoneal Denver shunt in treatment of chronic pleurisy]

The first utilisation in our hospital of a pleuraperitoneal shunt for the treatment of chronic pleurisy enabled us to study, in the light of published data, the place for such a procedure in the management of resistant pleural effusion. The aetiology of the pleurisy in a 70-year old patient who underwent this mini-invasive surgery was unknown when the shunt was inserted, but his symtoms clearly improved afterwards. At the present time with a follow-up of 13 months, there are no local complications and the system is in good working order. In 1982, the material used for the first time in such a case was an adapted version of Denver's peritoneal venous shunt. This is composed of a pleural catheter linked by a pump that the patient controls himself, to a peritoneal catheter. This pump can be inserted under local anaesthetic. The principal indications in the literature, in which the series do not exceed 70 cases are: malignant pleurisy where it is preferable to introducing tale in the case of tissue retraction fastening to the underlying lung and also in chylous pleurisy, especially those secondary to congenital east disease in children. A complication rate of 25% is noted depending on the type of infection or obstruction leading to replacement of the shunt. No case of erosion has been noted. The long term patency, measured by radio-isotope injections (Tc99m), has not been studied but there is a significant reduction in the length of hospital stay which gives a clear economic advantage to such procedures.

Self-expanding metal stents for the management of bronchial stenosis and bronchomalacia after lung transplantation

BACKGROUND

Airway stenosis or malacia after lung transplantation, usually as a result of anastomotic ischemia, remains a major problem.

METHODS

The authors report their experience with the Gianturco expandable stent for the management of 23 bronchial stenoses in 18 patients following lung transplantation. Stent placement occurred an average of 5.6 months after transplantation.

RESULTS

Stents were well tolerated and produced immediate symptomatic and functional improvement. The mean follow-up after implantation was 21 months (range, 4 to 48 mo). The authors removed five stents by endoscopy and replaced them, and removed one stent entirely. Laser resection was used to control granulomas or partial fibrosis stenosis that occurred in four stents (14.3%) after an average of 4 months. One stent broke but was still in place and effective 32 months later. One patient died of hemorrhage 4 months after stenting.

CONCLUSION

Although it can still be improved, this expandable metal stent is suitable for the treatment of posttransplantation proximal bronchial stenosis.

Contralateral haemorrhagic pulmonary metastases ("choriocarcinoma syndrome") after pneumonectomy for primary pulmonary choriocarcinoma

The case history is presented of a patient which illustrates both the diagnostic difficulties of an extremely rare tumour (choriocarcinoma of the lung) and its associated haemorrhagic metastases (“choriocarcinoma syndrome”).

Single lung transplantation for primary pulmonary hypertension without cardiopulmonary bypass

We report the first case, to our knowledge, of single lung transplantation for primary pulmonary hypertension carried out without cardiopulmonary bypass. This operation seems to be possible even if the right ventricular ejection fraction is low (0.17) and the pulmonary vascular resistance very high (1,096 dynes.s.cm5). Since 1981, heart-lung transplantation has been successfully performed in patients with primary pulmonary hypertension. If heart-lung transplantation results in resolution of pulmonary hypertension, the incidence of obliterative bronchiolitis is significant in heart-lung transplantation recipients. Single lung transplantation has been performed for end-stage interstitial and obstructive lung disease but has not been considered a good option for primary pulmonary hypertension due to concerns that a single transplanted lung would be unable to cope with the entire blood flow. However, recently single lung transplantation has been performed for primary pulmonary hypertension, the risk of obliterative bronchiolitis remaining unknown. The purpose of this communication is to report one case of single lung transplantation for primary pulmonary hypertension and the feasibility of this operation without the use of cardiopulmonary bypass, if cardiopulmonary bypass is thought to be dangerous.

Thoracic splenosis presenting with hemoptysis

Thoracic splenosis (post-traumatic autotransplantation of splenic tissue) is rare and generally asymptomatic. We report a patient with thoracic splenosis presenting with repeated hemoptysis. The blood supply of the hypervascular splenic transplants originated from a bronchial and an intercostal artery. Hemoptysis improved after surgical exeresis of splenosis. Recognizing splenosis presenting with hemoptysis is important, since percutaneous embolotherapy could be hazardous because of the risk of ectopic splenic tissue infarction.

[Primary tumors of the diaphragm. Apropos of a case]

The diagnosis of diaphragmatic tumours is complicated by their rarity and because they are often difficult to distinguish from the more frequent tumours of surrounding structures. We describe two cases: an invasive fibroma and a primary hydatid cyst. We discuss the differential diagnosis of diaphragmatic tumours and suggest a systematic approach to their radiological diagnosis, stressing the value of ultrasonography, CT scanning and diagnostic pneumoperitoneum.

[Pulmonary hamartoma. Apropos of 49 surgically treated cases]

A series of 49 patients with pulmonary hamartoma subjected to operation is described. 28 patients were male and 21 female, with a mean age of 49.8 years. Most cases were discovered on routine chest films. Six patients had radiologic changes produced by obstruction, while 43 had a rounded peripheral opacity. Fine calcifications were present in four cases. In no case was diagnosis achieved by bronchoscopy, whereas one of the more recent cases was diagnosed by percutaneous fine needle biopsy. Sinner has shown that this last technique can establish diagnosis in most cases. As such tumors are invariably benign and grow slowly, diagnosis by percutaneous biopsy renders operation unnecessary: periodic follow up only is required.

[Perfusion and ventilation pulmonary scintigraphy in the diagnosis of the operability of primary bronchial cancers]

Ventilation scintigraphy using Munsch's technique with Xenon 133 combined with perfusion scintigraphy using 99m Tc albumin particles in microspheres are of considerable interest in the preoperative evaluation of bronchogenic carcinoma. Basing themselves on 95 cases, the authors discuss the manner in which the tumor affects ventilation and perfusion. In the 70 cases of matching ventilatory and perfusion scans, scintigraphy alone is not sufficient to demonstrate the exact perfusion obstruction mechanism. On the other hand, if there is a V/Q mismatch (21 cases) and if the perfusion defect is more extensive than the ventilation defect or the radiological opaque area, this normally implies a mediastinal extension of the tumor, and tends to make any carcinologically valid ablation highly risky. Comparison of the perfusion and ventilation scans with the radiological data and spirometric values showed that 9 patients presented with abnormal pulmonary radiographs outside the tumor areas. Six of these cases involved tuberculous sequelae. Forty-four of the ninety five patients (46.3%) showed normal ventilation and perfusion scans outside the tumor areas. Of the 91 patients undergoing spirometry, 39 suffered from ventilatory obstruction and pathological ventilation and perfusion scans and 18 presented with scintigraphic anomalies outside the tumor are a but did not suffer from ventilatory obstruction.

[Long-term results of isolated anterior interventricular bypasses: analysis of the prognostic factors. Apropos of a series of 187 patients operated on between]

A total of 187 patients underwent isolated aorto-left anterior descending artery (LAD) bypass grafting with the internal saphenous vein (ISV) (= 65) and left internal mammary artery (IM) (n = 122). The respective indications of the two techniques were not systematized: the comparison of the main preoperative data of the two groups showed a statistically higher number of risk factors (p less than 0,01), more multivessel coronary lesions (p less than 0,02) and more patients with dyskinetic left ventricles (p less than 0,05) in the ISV bypass group. There were no statistical differences between the two groups in early postoperative mortality (IM: 0,8 p. 100, ISV: 1,5 p. 100), early postoperative infarction (IM: 2,5 p. 100, ISV: 1,5 p. 100), or late postoperative infarction (IM: 3,8 p. 100, ISV: 2,6 p. 100). The survival rates in the two groups were very similar with a global 90 p. 100 survival at 5 years and 78 p. 100 at 9 years. A comparison of the functional result in the two groups did not reveal significant difference: globally, 56 p. 100 of patients had no recurrence of angina 5 years, and 41 p. 100 after 9 years. Age, sex previous infarction, the number of cardiovascular risk factors, the technique used, had no prognostic significance on survival or on the quality of the postoperative functional results, contrary to the quality of left ventriculography and the number of coronary stenoses (83 subjects with isolated LAD disease, 104 subjects with multiple vessel disease). Nevertheless, patients with multiple coronary lesions had their vital prognosis improved (annual mortality less than 3 p. 100) compared to the spontaneous risk by isolated isolated aorto-LAD artery bypass surgery.

[Resection of left ventricular aneurysm for clinical heart failure. Long-term results and prognostic factors (author's transl)]

Between 1970 and 1980, 46 resections of left ventricular aneurysm were carried out in patients with clinical evidence of heart failure but without associated septal perforation or severe mitral regurgitation. Aortocoronary bypass was simultaneously performed in 28% of the cases. The mean post-operative follow-up was 67 months. The early (1 mont) post-operative mortality rate was 15.2%. The actuarial survival rate (taking into account the early post-operative mortality rate) was 52.4% at 5 years and 32.9% at 10 years. Most early and late deaths were of cardiac origin. Among long-term survivors, 48.5% had no post-operative heart failure and 67% had no residual angina pectoris. In a statistical analysis of the factors involved in overall post-operative survival, no significant influence could be found for sex and age (within the limits of the study), risk factors associated with atheroma, duration of the myocardial necrosis responsible for the aneurysm, location of the aneurysm, time taken for the post-infarction heart failure to develop, presence of pre-operative angina on ECG, number of coronary arteries stenosed, extent of the aneurysm as determined by cineventriculography, cardiac index, left ventricular end-systolic pressure and associated aortocoronary bypass. In contrast, a significant prognostic value was demonstrated for the ejection fraction of the contractile area of the left ventricle (p less than 0.02), the maximal cardiac dysfunction observed prior to surgery (P less than 0.02), the presence of pre-operative dysrhythmias (P less than 0.1) and the quality of cardiac performance recovered immediately after the operation (P less than 0.001).