Right lower lobectomy eight years after left pneumonectomy for a second primary lung cancer

Lung metastasis after pneumonectomy: Is there a place for surgery?

Resection of the contralateral lung after primary total pneumonectomy is a real surgical option for patients with secondary lung disease.

Guiding Principles in the Management of Synchronous and Metachronous Primary Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Multiple lung cancers can be found simultaneously, with incidence ranging from 1% to 8%. Documentation of more than 1 pulmonary lesion can be challenging, because these solid, ground-glass, or mixed-density tumors may represent multicentric malignant disease or intrapulmonary metastases. If mediastinal nodal and distant deposits are excluded, surgery should be contemplated. After surgical treatment of lung cancer, patients should be followed closely for an undetermined period of time. Good clinical judgment is of outmost importance in deciding which individuals will benefit from those surgical interventions and which are candidates for alternate therapies. Every case should be discussed in a multidisciplinary meeting.

Feasibility of Spontaneous Ventilation in Secondary Contralateral Thoracic Surgery

Background

A secondary contralateral thoracic surgery is a challenging procedure and is rarely indicated. We retrospectively compared the perioperative values to find out whether video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery under spontaneous ventilation is feasible for this surgery.

Material/Methods

Patients were retrospectively collected from January 1, 2015 to December 30, 2018 who underwent secondary contralateral video-assisted thoracoscopic surgeries with mechanical ventilation (MV-VATS group) or spontaneous ventilation (SV-VATS group). A propensity score-matching analysis was used to counterbalance the discrepancies. The primary outcome measures were the values of respiratory mechanics and hemodynamics, and the secondary outcome measures were postoperative recovery and complications.

Results

In the SV-VATS group, the operation and anesthesia times were shorter (P=0.008 and P=0.020, respectively). The peak respiratory pressure value was lower (P<0.001), and there was less use of analgesic drugs during the operation (P<0.001). The vital signs and oxygenation were stable during the operation and in post-anesthesia care unit. The extubation time of laryngeal mask airway, chest-tube duration, and postoperative hospital stay were shorter in the SV-VATS group (P=0.015, P=0.000, P=0.003, respectively), but the duration of intensive care unit stay, the postoperative clinical complications, and chest radiography results were not significantly different between the 2 groups (P>0.05). In the SV-VATS group, postoperative leukocyte count (P<0.001) and neutrophil ratio (P=0.001) were lower and the postoperative value of PaCO₂ was slightly higher (P=0.026).

Conclusions

VATS under spontaneous ventilation might be an alternative approach for patients who undergo a secondary contralateral thoracic surgery with intraoperative stable vital signs, and does not increase postoperative complications.