Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Invading the Descending Thoracic Aorta: Surgical Resection Without Using Cardiopulmonary Bypass and Without Cross-Clamping the Aorta: Long-Term Follow-Up of 2 Cases.

Lung cancer can sometimes invade vital adjacent mediastinal structures, such as the descending thoracic aorta. We describe 2 cases where pulmonary resection was performed en bloc including a patch of the descending thoracic aorta. These procedures were easily performed using an aortic endoprosthesis in the same anesthetic procedure. We also comment some aspects about an intraoperative endoleak, postoperative evolution, and long-term follow-up.

Is the prognosis of occult N2 disease similar to that of positive positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET/CT) scan single-station N2 disease in patients with non-small cell lung cancer treated by surgical resection?

OBJECTIVE: A retrospective study, using a prospective database, was conducted on patients treated with surgery in order to analyze the prognosis between two groups: NSCLC (non-small cell lung cancer) patients with occult N2 disease and patients with single station N2 disease observed on pre-operative integrated PET/CT scan. METHODS: A total of 772 patients underwent surgical treatment for lung cancer from January 2007 to December 2014. All of them had an integrated PET/CT scan in the pre-operative work-up and a pulmonary resection plus mediastinal lymphadenectomy were performed in all cases. In the selected cases, no one received induction treatment. All patients from both groups had N2 disease after examination of the histopathology specimen. Clinical and pathological characteristics, disease free survival, and overall survival, were analyzed in both groups. RESULTS: A total of 34 cases presented occult N2 disease, whereas 11 cases showed single station N2 disease on pre-operative PET/CT scan. Mean disease free survival and mean overall survival for occult N2 disease compared to single-station N2 disease on PET/CT scan was 36.0 months (95% CI: 24.9-47.1) and 38.9 months (95% CI: 20.6-57.1), p=.586; and 52.3 months (95% CI: 38.9-65.7) and 38.2 months (95% CI: 21.9-54.5), p=.349, respectively. CONCLUSION: The prognosis of patients with single-station N2 disease on PET/CT scan treated by surgical resection and mediastinal lymphadenectomy as first line treatment was similar to those with occult N2 disease. More studies are needed to support our findings.

Ratio between maximum standardized uptake value of N1 lymph nodes and tumor predicts N2 disease in patients with non-small cell lung cancer in 18F-FDG PET-CT scan.

OBJECTIVE: F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose integrated PET-CT scan is commonly used in the work-up of lung cancer to improve preoperative disease stage. The aim of the study was to analyze the ratio between SUVmax of N1 lymph nodes and primary lung cancer to establish prediction of mediastinal disease (N2) in patients operated on non-small cell lung cancer. MATERIAL AND METHOD: This is a retrospective study of a prospective database. Patients operated on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with N1 disease by PET-CT scan were included. None of them had previous induction treatment, but they underwent standard surgical resection plus systematic lymphadenectomy. RESULTS: There were 51 patients with FDG-PET-CT scan N1 disease. 44 (86.3%) patients were male with a mean age of 64.1±10.8 years. Type of resection: pneumonectomy=4 (7.9%), lobectomy/bilobectomy=44 (86.2%), segmentectomy=3 (5.9%). HISTOLOGY: adenocarcinoma=26 (51.0%), squamous=23 (45.1%), adenosquamous=2 (3.9%). Lymph nodes after surgical resection: N0=21 (41.2%), N1=12 (23.5%), N2=18 (35.3%). Mean ratio of the SUVmax of N1 lymph node to the SUVmax of the primary lung tumor (SUVmax N1/T ratio) was 0.60 (range 0.08-2.80). ROC curve analysis to obtain the optimal cut-off value of SUVmax N1/T ratio to predict N2 disease was performed. At multivariate analysis, we found that a ratio of 0.46 or greater was an independent predictor factor of N2 mediastinal lymph node metastases with a sensitivity and specificity of 77.8% and 69.7%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: SUVmax N1/T ratio in NSCLC patients correlates with mediastinal lymph node metastasis (N2 disease) after surgical resection. When SUVmax N1/T ratio on integrated PET-CT scan is equal or superior to 0.46, special attention should be paid on higher probability of N2 disease.

[Descending necrotizing mediastinitis: treatment by transcervical thoracic drainage]. / Mediastinitis necrosante descendente: tratamiento con drenaje torácico transcervical.

We report the case of a 29-year-old man with descending necrotizing mediastinitis and subcarinal spread secondary to oropharyngeal infection. The thoracic infection was treated by placement of a transcervical thoracic drain, which was removed 15 days after surgery. The outcome was satisfactory and no further invasive treatment was required. We believe that transcervical thoracic drainage is a useful initial treatment for descending necrotizing mediastinitis with subcarinal spread but no pleural cavity involvement.