Bilateral chylothorax after thymectomy via median sternotomy and resolution through conservative treatment.

Thymectomy has been shown to be effective in the treatment of myasthenia gravis patients. Rarely, bilateral chylothorax, was noted as a complication of thymectomy via median sternotomy. Probably unseen division of mediastinal lymphatics, remote from thoracic duct, can explain this phenomenon. We report the case of a patient, female, who developed bilateral chylothorax after the former surgical approach, and our initial conservative policy to treat it (unilateral chest tube, total parenteral nutrition and subcutaneous administration of octreotide, a long-acting somatostatin analog), with good results.

Benefits of awake uniportal pulmonary resection in a patient with a previous contralateral lobectomy.

Surgical resection of a contralateral recurrence of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is indicated in patients without evidence of disseminated disease and considered functionally operable. General anesthesia and double-lumen intubation involves one lobe ventilation in a patient treated with a previous lobectomy, thus increasing the risks of ventilator-induced injuries and the morbidity. Awake procedures facilitate the surgery decreasing the anesthetic and surgical times, keeping the diaphragm motion and diminishing the ventilator-induced injuries into the remaining contralateral lobe. We present a 43-year-old woman with a previous left-lower lobectomy for a 3.1-cm mucinous adenocarcinoma 15 months before without nodal involvement, who presents a right-lower lobe 8-mm cavitated nodule, with evident radiological growth and fine-needle aspiration concordant with mucinous adenocarcinoma. We suggest an awake procedure with locoregional epidural anesthesia.

Potential diagnostic value of methylation profile in pleural fluid and serum from cancer patients with pleural effusion.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to investigate the diagnostic value of methylation profiles for discrimination between malignant and benign pleural effusions. A secondary objective was to examine the concordance of methylation in samples of serum and pleural fluid. METHODS: The authors used methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) analysis to examine the promoter methylation status of 4 genes in patients with pleural effusion: death-associated protein kinase (DAPK), Ras association domain family 1A (RASSF1A), retinoic acid receptor beta (RARbeta), and p16/INK4a. Pleural effusions were collected from 87 patients who had their diagnoses confirmed on cytologic and/or histologic examinations and clinical evolution. Pleural effusions were classified as malignant (n = 53 patients) or benign (n = 34 patients). RESULTS: Methylation was detected in serum from 45.3% of patients with malignant pleural effusions and from 0% of patients with benign pleural effusions, and it was detected in pleural fluid samples from 58.5% of patients with malignant pleural effusions and from 0% of patients with benign pleural effusions (P = .001). The sensitivity of MSP was greater than that of cytologic examination alone (39.1%; P = .001). When MSP was used together with cytologic examination, sensitivity increased to 69.8% (P = .001). CONCLUSIONS: Cell-free methylated DNA in pleural fluid can be detected in patients with neoplastic malignancy in a single extraction by thoracocentesis. Adequate management of the extracted pleural fluid can provide a rapid and reliable diagnosis in patients with pleural effusions who have suspected malignancy. MSP, used together with cytologic examination, may obviate the need for other invasive diagnostic tests.

Tratamiento quirúrgico de los tumores neuroendocrinos de localización broncopulmonar / Surgical treatment of bronchopulmonary neuroendocrine tumors

Introducción: El objetivo de este trabajo es revisar nuestra experiencia con los tumores neuroendocrinos de localización broncopulmonar, en especial el tipo de tratamiento quirúrgico aplicado en función del tipo histológico. Material y métodos: Hemos realizado un estudio retrospectivo sobre 45 pacientes: 35 casos de carcinoides típicos, 6 de carcinoides atípicos, 1 oat cell y 3 de carcinomas de células grandes. Los tumores fueron clasificados siguiendo los criterios de Travis. Resultados: El tratamiento quirúrgico practicado fue: 4 neumonectomías, 23 lobectomías, 6 bilobectomías, 3 resecciones atípicas por videocirugía, 7 broncoplastias con lobectomía y 2 broncoplastias sin resección pulmonar. En el 86 por ciento de los casos el estadio fue tipo I (9 IA y 30 IB), clasificándose 5 pacientes como IIIA, y 1 como IIIB. El estudio rutinario de los pacientes incluyó: radiología de tórax, analítica completa, tomografía computarizada toracoabdominal y broncoscopia. El seguimiento medio ha sido de 46,09 meses. Conclusiones: La gran mayoría de tumores neuroendocrinos tratables con cirugía son de bajo grado de agresividad (carcinoides típicos). El tratamiento quirúrgico también es el de elección en la mayoría de los carcinoides atípicos, aunque en éstos el grado de agresividad es mayor, al provocar diseminación ganglionar locorregional o metástasis en mayor proporción que los anteriores. En los carcinomas de célula grande con diferenciación neuroendocrina y en los cacinomas de células pequeñas, el tratamiento óptimo no está bien definido, aunque la cirugía parece ser una opción que debe plantearse siempre que sea posible, combinada o no con otras terapias (AU)