The effects of steroidal and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs on tracheal wound healing in an experimental rat model.

OBJECTIVES: The effect of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID), mostly used for postoperative analgesic purposes for wound healing, is still a matter of debate. Our goal was to evaluate the effects of the most widely used NSAID and corticosteroids after surgical operations on tracheal wound healing in an experimental rat model. METHODS: Thirty-nine male Wistar albino rats were included in this study. Tracheotomy was performed in 32 rats; then they were divided into 3 groups. After the first day, the animals in group 1 were treated with an NSAID (diclofenac 10 mg/kg/day) (NSAID, n = 12) for 7 days; the animals in group 2 were treated with a corticosteroid (dexamethasone, 2 × 0.1 mg/kg/day) (steroid, n = 10) for 7 days; the animals in group 3 (control, n = 10) were not given any medications. For a fourth group (histological control, n = 7), in order to evaluate normal morphological and histological characteristics, neither surgery nor medication was used. Five rats were eliminated from the study (2 rats in the NSAID group died and 3 rats in the steroid group developed local wound infections). The drop-out rate was 12.8%. Histological characteristics, inflammation, fibrosis, necrosis, neochondrogenesis, neovascularization and epithelization were evaluated in 34 rats. Non-parametric tests were used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: Inflammation, vascularization and number of fibroblasts and chondrocytes were significantly higher in the control group than in the histological control group. There was some reduction in all parameters except vascularization in the NSAID group (P > 0.05). When the steroid group was compared to the NSAID group, inflammation (P < 0.05), vascularization and number of chondrocytes (P > 0.05) were more suppressed in the steroid group. The number of fibroblasts increased in the steroid group (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Steroids and NSAID may have negative effects on tracheal wound healing, probably by suppressing inflammation and fibroblast proliferation. NSAID was mostly used postoperatively for analgesic purposes and should be avoided.

The role of the tissue culture in granulomatous mediastinal lymphadenitis: tuberculosis or not.

AIM: To evaluate the role of the tissue culture via mediastinoscopic biopsy in granulomatous mediastinal lymphadenitis. METHODS: The dossier data of 92 cases with mediastinal lymphadenitis showing granulomatous lymphadenitis features by cervical mediastinoscopy and whose clinical, radiological and bacteriological definitive diagnosis is tuberculosis and sarcoidosis were examined retrospectively. The rate of the positive tissue culture of mediastynoscopic biopsy in the diagnosis of granulomatous lymphadenitis was calculated. RESULTS: There were 65 (71%) females and 27 (29%) males. The mean age of the patients was 42.5 (range 15-75) years. Non necrotizing granulomatous lymphadenitis was detected in 58 (63 %) cases while necrotizing granulomatous lymphadenitis was seen in 34 (37%) cases. There were 29 cases diagnosed with tuberculosis. Acid resistant bacilli culture positive rate was 38% (in 11 cases). There were 21 (62%) cases of necrotizing granulomatous lymphadenitis and eight (14%) cases of non-necrotizing granulomatous lymphadenitis diagnosed with tuberculosis. Culture positivity was identified in two (25%) of eight cases whose differential diagnosis could not be made histopathologically as tuberculosis/sarcoidosis. CONCLUSIONS: In addition to clinical, radiological and histopathological diagnosis, the study aims to highlight the importance of tissue culture in definitive diagnosis, especially undetermined incidents.

Fistulization of hydatid mediastinal cyst to the anterior thoracic wall: case report.

Echinococcosis/hydatidosis is a frequent parasitic and zoonotic disease in the population engaged with agriculture and stockbreeding. It is seen most frequently in the liver and lung in adults. Mediastinal location of the disease is very rare. In this study we aimed to present a 31-year-old man having hydatid disease in the anterior mediastinum fistulated to the skin in the right subclavicular region, together with the literature. The patient was operated on through a partial sternotomy incision, and excision of the cyst and the fistula was performed.

One-stoma carinoplasty: right upper sleeve lobectomy with hemicarinectomy for resection of right-tracheobronchial-angle tumors.

Tracheobronchial-angle tumors involve the right main bronchus, the right upper lobar bronchus, and the lateral wall of the lower trachea. Resecting these tumors is one of the most complex procedures in thoracic surgery. In cases of high-caliber mismatch, the selection of a suitable anastomotic technique can be challenging. We found that our use of a one-stoma carinoplasty technique overcame high-caliber mismatch after the resection of these tumors. From 2009 through 2012, 8 men (mean age, 59 ± 6.2 yr; range, 46-66 yr) underwent complete resection of non-small-cell right-tracheobronchial-angle tumors at our institution. In every case, right upper sleeve lobectomy, wedge carinal resection, and one-stoma carinoplasty were applied. After tumor resection, one patient with hemoptysis and bronchopleural fistula underwent a completion pneumonectomy and died 10 days postoperatively. Bronchoscopy was necessary in 2 patients who had atelectasis in the contralateral lung. At a mean follow-up duration of 19.43 ± 8.4 months (range, 0.2-27.1 mo), 6 patients were alive and free of disease. We conclude that our one-stoma carinoplasty technique enables the resection of tumors at the right tracheobronchial angle, with acceptable morbidity and mortality rates. This method saves the unaffected part of the ipsilateral lung and can overcome high-caliber mismatch. Because of these and other advantages, we suggest that using our method first might preclude having to perform a right carinal sleeve pneumonectomy or using Barclay's method.

Thoracic endometriosis syndrome with bloody pleural effusion in a 28 year old woman.

Thoracic endometriosis, rarely encountered, is characterized with the localization of functional endometrium tissue in pleura, lung parenchyma or tracheobronchial system. A 28 years old female patient visited our clinic with complaints of cough and shortness of breath for the last two months. Right-sided massive pleural effusion was detected in the chest radiography and thorax computed tomography. Exudative fluid was aspirated with a haemorrhagic appearance on thoracentesis. Cytology was evaluated as suspicious. "Signet ring cells" were reported in pleural biopsy. Diagnostic biopsy was performed by video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) on the patient whose fiber-optic bronchoscopy was normal. The histopathological diagnosis was reported as "pleural endometriosis". Chemical pleurodesis was applied with asbestos-free chalk. The thorax HRCT (high resolution computed tomography) performed during menstruation was normal. Thoracentesis was needed 3 times for recurrent pleural effusion in the follow-ups and then parietal pleurectomy was performed. The patient is in postoperative 10th month follow-up and evaluated as normal clinically and as radiologically. Pleural endometriosis should be considered as a differential diagnosis in female patients with infertility with chest symptoms. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery can be useful in the diagnosis and treatment of these patients and chemical pleurodesis and parietal pleurectomy should be considered among the treatment options.

Horner's syndrome as a complication in thoracic surgical practice.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the incidence, reasons and prognosis about Horner's syndrome in thoracic surgical patients. METHODS: In this prospective clinical study, 933 adult patients were assessed between the years of 1998 and 2002. All patients who underwent chest tube insertion (n: 662 patients) or thoracotomy (n: 342 patients), or who had thoracic trauma (n: 268 patients) were routinely examined to detect of Horner's syndrome. The patients with Horner's syndrome due to the invasion of malignant tumour to sympathetic chain were not included in the study. RESULTS: Horner's syndrome was detected in twelve patients from these 933 patients (1.3%). The considered etiologic factors were chest tube pressure in five patients, operative complication in two patients and trauma in five patients. In patients with chest tube pressure were fully recovered from Horner's syndrome but the remaining did not. CONCLUSIONS: Malposition of the chest tube is an important aetiological factor of Horner's syndrome, and it is reversible if the tube position is corrected urgently.