[Right upper lobe pulmonary sequestration as a rare cause of recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax]

A 19-year-old patient after previous wedge resection of the right upper pulmonary lobe a year ago urgently admitted with recurrent right-sided spontaneous pneumothorax. According to standard management of spontaneous pneumothorax, we performed diagnostic thoracoscopy and drainage of the right pleural cavity with regular X-ray examinations. However, these measures were ineffective. The patient was scheduled for surgery, and we intraoperatively observed an unusual cause of pneumothorax. Thus, we present spontaneous pneumothorax following right upper lobe pulmonary sequestration. The uniqueness of this case is associated with unusual manifestation and non-standard localization of rare lesion. A few cases of pneumothorax in similar patients are described in the world literature. The key limiting factor in diagnosis of such defects (identification of aberrant vessel supplying abnormal lung parenchyma) is the lack of routine CT angiography in patients diagnosed with pneumothorax. That is why CT changes were interpreted as postoperative ones, and the true cause was established only during redo surgery. A thorough inspection of the pleural cavity and alertness regarding unusual appearance of the right upper pulmonary lobe made it possible to suggest a non-standard diagnosis, avoid complications (bleeding from afferent vessel) and perform adequate lung resection.

[Treatment of patients with rare bronchial foreign body - spruce branch]

Spruce branch is a rare radiolucent bronchial foreign body. Despite modern imaging tests and endoscopic examination, this foreign body is often detected only intraoperatively. This study enrolled 4 patients with spruce branch aspiration. In the 4^th case, spruce branch was removed during rigid bronchoscopy that was associated with «lodging» type of foreign body. In two cases, spruce branch migrated to peripheral bronchial segments («extrusive» type) that required surgical treatment (thoracoscopy with resection of the right basal pyramid segments and wedge resection of the right lower lobe). The 3^rd case was the most interesting. Initially, the foreign body was «underlying», but it migrated after partial endoscopic removal that finally required right-sided lower lobectomy. This report describes the peculiarities of clinical course and management of patients with a rare type of radiolucent bronchial foreign body - spruce branch.