Anatomical analysis of the left upper lobe of lung on three-dimensional images with focusing the branching pattern of the subsegmental veins.

BACKGROUND: A clear understanding of the anatomical characteristics of the pulmonary veins (PVs) is essential for the successful performance of segmentectomy and important to avoid intraoperative pulmonary vessels injury. However, there is no report showing the relations between the branching patterns of PVs and pulmonary arteries (PAs). Moreover, internationally accepted symbols for describing PVs remain unavailable. For anatomically assessing the branches and courses of the subsegmental veins in the left upper lobe (LUL), the diverse branching patterns of blood vessels and bronchi should be investigated. METHODS: The branching patterns and intersegmental courses of PVs were assessed by performing three-dimensional image analysis of the bronchi, and PAs and PVs in the LUL in 103 patients who were scheduled to receive segmentectomy in LUL from January 2008 through August 2012. RESULTS: Branching types of the bronchi and pulmonary vessels failed to be independent each other. Although the combinations of anterior extension type of bronchus with the inter-lobar type (IL-type) of arterial branching pattern were often observed, but those with the mediastinal type (M-type) were rarely observed. The combinations of apical vein dominant type with the IL-type of arteries, and intermediate and central vein types with the M-type were often observed. Since LUL was adjoined by various subsegments, and the intersegmental pulmonary veins showed diverse patterns. CONCLUSIONS: This study found the relationship among PA, PV, and bronchus patterns, in the subsegment where the branching patterns were fixed in 103 cases. This study discovered PVs that was difficult to be named by the conventional naming systems because of the diversity of the locations in the subsegment.

[Thoracic Spinal Chordoma Need to be Differentiated from the Bacteremia-associated Paravertebral Abscess].

A 71-year-old woman presented to our hospital with fever and dyspnea. Computed tomography showed shadows of bilateral pneumonia and anterior vertebral mass. She was admitted to our hospital for respiratory failure. Despite treatment with antibiotics, she developed right thoracic empyema. A high level of inflammation and fever persisted, despite chest tube drainage and continued treatment with antibiotics. Therefore, thoracoscopic curettage was conducted. The histopathological findings of the curetted anterior vertebral body lesion revealed the diagnosis of chordoma. After confirming that all the culture results and inflammation findings had turned negative, the patient was discharged from the hospital. Thoracic vertebral chordoma is being treated at the department of orthopedics.

Multiple atypical thymic carcinoids with paraneoplastic giant cell arteritis.

Multiple thymic carcinoids are rare, and giant cell arteritis (GCA) is one of the less recognized paraneoplastic diseases. The co-occurrence of these two diseases is therefore extremely rare. We report herein a patient with multiple atypical thymic carcinoids and asymptomatic paraneoplastic GCA. All the thymic carcinoids were diagnosed histopathologically as atypical thymic carcinoids with an intrathymic metastasis. Treatment consisted of a complete tumor resection followed by observation of the GCA without any adjuvant therapy. Subsequent positron emission tomography revealed a decrease in F-fludeoxyglucose accumulation in the systemic arteries. Based on these findings, paraneoplastic GCA was diagnosed. Thymic carcinoids rarely involve intrathymic metastasis or cause neopleonastic GCA. However, when they do, a complete tumor resection is the best option for management.

Postoperative empyema following lung cancer surgery.

Postoperative empyema following lung cancer surgery is a serious complication. Occurrence rate of postoperative empyema following lung cancer surgery, patient background, surgical procedures, date of empyema onset, treatment, and prognosis of 4772 patients who underwent lung cancer surgery between 2008 and 2012 were investigated. Postoperative empyema following lung cancer surgery was found in 43 patients (0.9%). The occurrence rate of postoperative empyema was significantly higher in patients with the following factors: male gender, extended surgery such as pneumonectomy, bi-lobectomy and thoracotomy, squamous cell carcinoma, and an advanced pathologic stage of II and above. Chest drainage, video-assisted thoracic surgery debridement, fenestration, and thoracoplasy were performed, where 29 patients were cured (67.5%) and 5 patients (11.6%) died from thoracic empyema-related complications. Nine patients were not cured and died due to cancer or other diseases during treatment. When comparing cured and non-cured patients, it is indicated that squamous cell carcinoma, administration of steroids, history of interstitial pneumonia, presence of bronchial stump fistula, exacerbation of interstitial pneumonia and presence of non-fermenting Gram-negative bacilli led to a significantly low prognosis. The five-year overall survival rate was 34.9%.

A novel and simple method for identifying the lung intersegmental plane using thermography.

Identifying the intersegmental plane is very important for successful lung segmentectomy. Although several methods are available, they require specialized skills and pose a potential risk of losing sight of the correct intersegmental planes. Therefore, easier and more reliable methods are required. In this study, we hypothesized that surface temperatures of resecting segments or lobes decrease because of blood flow suppression after the ligation of target arteries and veins, and intersegmental planes can be visualized using a thermography. To test this hypothesis, we performed six lung resections (two lobectomies and four segmentectomies) on three pigs and, using a handheld thermography, we monitored the lung surface temperatures to identify intersegmental planes. We demonstrated that thermal imaging sharply demarcated intersegmental planes soon after the ligation of vessels in all procedures. Compared with other methods, thermography requires no special technical skills, drug injection and lung inflation. Therefore, we believe that the thermographic method described in this study will be a powerful option to identify intersegmental planes during anatomical lung segmentectomy.

[Outcomes of Surgical Treatment by Modified Transmanubrial Approach].

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the useful and safety of surgical treatment by modified transmanubrial approach(MTA). METHODS: Between January 2000 and May 2014, 10 patients underwent surgical treatment by MTA. Among these patients, we retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 6 patients who had vascular invasion of tumor. We evaluated postoperative outcomes of MTA. RESULTS: All patients were men, with a median age of 56 years. Pathological diagnoses were as follows:thymic carcinoma in 2, thyroid cancer in 2, primary lung cancer in 1, mediastinal lymph node metastasis of thyroid cancer in 1 patient. The median operative time was 468 minutes. The median bleeding was 1,723.5 ml. Four patients underwent angioplasty, including direct suture in 1, graft replacement artificial blood vessel in 3 patients. Right auricle-innominate vein bypass was performed in 3 patients. The median hospitalization term was 29 days. R0 resection was archived in all cases. CONCLUSION: The surgical treatment by MTA is useful and safety for anterior apical tumor and mediastinal tumor invading adjacent vessels. Because of a small number of sample size, further investigation well be needed.

Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery after renal transplantation: A single-institution experience.

INTRODUCTION: The number of renal transplantations performed for patients with chronic kidney disease has increased in Japan, but little is known about the outcomes in those who subsequently undergo video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). We therefore investigated the outcomes of consecutive patients requiring VATS after renal transplantation at our institute. METHODS: We retrospectively collected the clinical data for patients undergoing VATS after renal transplantation between January 2003 and September 2014. Specifically, we compared the serum creatinine level and estimated glomerular filtration rate preoperatively and postoperatively, and investigated the postoperative complications. RESULTS: In total, 12 patients underwent VATS after renal transplantation during the study period. All patients received two or three immunosuppressive agents. Operative methods used included VATS wedge resection (n = 4), segmentectomy (n = 4), lobectomy (n = 2), mediastinal tumor resection (n = 1), and chest wall tumor resection (n = 1). No patients required perioperative hemodialysis. There were no intraoperative complications, but one patient developed postoperative hemorrhagic cystitis and another developed pneumonia. One patient developed pneumocystis pneumonia 2 months after left lower lobectomy and required hemodialysis. No further hemodialysis was required by any patient. Of note, no statistically significant differences were observed between the preoperative and postoperative serum creatinine level (P = 0.666) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (P = 0.388). There were no in-hospital deaths. Univariate analysis revealed no significant risk factors for postoperative complications. CONCLUSION: This report showed favorable results for VATS after renal transplantation. However, clinicians must remain vigilant for complications because transplant recipients remain permanently immunocompromised.

Video-assisted thoracoscpic muscle transposition for acute empyema.

Muscle flap transposition is one of the surgical treatment options for empyema with alveolarpleural fistula (APF) or bronchopleural fistula (BPF). This surgical procedure is invasive because it is typically performed by standard thoracotomy. We performed video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) debridement, decortication, and obliteration of an empyema cavity using a pedicled latissimus dorsi muscle (LDM) flap harvested through minimal skin incisions for a case of acute empyema with APF. This VATS procedure is effective and less invasive and can be a new option for the thoracoscopic surgical treatment of acute empyema with APF.

Binocular stereo-navigation for three-dimensional thoracoscopic lung resection.

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the efficacy of binocular stereo-navigation during three-dimensional (3-D) thoracoscopic sublobar resection (TSLR). METHODS: From July 2001, the authors' department began to use a virtual 3-D pulmonary model on a personal computer (PC) for preoperative simulation before thoracoscopic lung resection and for intraoperative navigation during operation. From 120 of 1-mm thin-sliced high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT)-scan images of tumor and hilum, homemade software CTTRY allowed sugeons to mark pulmonary arteries, veins, bronchi, and tumor on the HRCT images manually. The location and thickness of pulmonary vessels and bronchi were rendered as diverse size cylinders. With the resulting numerical data, a 3-D image was reconstructed by Metasequoia shareware. Subsequently, the data of reconstructed 3-D images were converted to Autodesk data, which appeared on a stereoscopic-vision display. Surgeons wearing 3-D polarized glasses performed 3-D TSLR. RESULTS: The patients consisted of 5 men and 5 women, ranging in age from 65 to 84 years. The clinical diagnoses were a primary lung cancer in 6 cases and a solitary metastatic lung tumor in 4 cases. Eight single segmentectomies, one bi-segmentectomy, and one bi-subsegmentectomy were performed. Hilar lymphadenectomy with mediastinal lymph node sampling has been performed in 6 primary lung cancers, but four patients with metastatic lung tumors were performed without lymphadenectomy. The operation time and estimated blood loss ranged from 125 to 333 min and from 5 to 187 g, respectively. There were no intraoperative complications and no conversion to open thoracotomy and lobectomy. Postoperative courses of eight patients were uneventful, and another two patients had a prolonged lung air leak. The drainage duration and hospital stay ranged from 2 to 13 days and from 8 to 19 days, respectively. The tumor histology of primary lung cancer showed 5 adenocarcinoma and 1 squamous cell carcinoma. All primary lung cancers were at stage IA. The organs having metastatic pulmonary tumors were kidney, bladder, breast, and rectum. No patients had macroscopically positive surgical margins. CONCLUSIONS: Binocular stereo-navigation was able to identify the bronchovascular structures accurately and suitable to perform TSLR with a sufficient margin for small pulmonary tumors.

[Hemoptysis caused by bleeding into a bleb].

A man in his 40s was admitted to our hospital for hemoptysis. A chest computed tomography showed a mediastinal mass adjacent to the left side wall of the ascending aorta with infiltrative shadows of the left upper lobe. In spite of medical treatment, hemoptysis continued, and the surgery was performed. The thoracoscopic findings showed hematoma in the bullous cavity. Partial resection of the left upper lobe was performed. Histopathological findings in the resected specimen revealed a bleb that was filled with blood.

Hypoglycemia Observed on Continuous Glucose Monitoring Associated With IGF-2-Producing Solitary Fibrous Tumor.

CONTEXT: Tumors producing IGF-2 (IGF-2oma) are a major cause of spontaneous hypoglycemia. The treatment mainstay is surgical resection. Many case reports note resolution of hypoglycemia after IGF-2oma resection; however, outcomes are variable according to tumor type. We report a case of resolving hypoglycemia, observed on continuous glucose monitoring, after resection of an IGF-2-producing solitary fibrous tumor of pleura and review the current literature. CASE REPORT: A 69-year-old woman presented with impaired consciousness because of hypoglycemia. An IGF-2oma was diagnosed as the cause for hypoglycemia because of decreased serum insulin and IGF-1, the presence of a pleural tumor, and a high-molecular-weight form of serum IGF-2 detected by Western immunoblot. Surgical resection was performed; pathological examination demonstrated a solitary fibrous tumor with low-grade malignancy. Continuous glucose monitoring showed reversal of hypoglycemia after tumor resection. Approximately 2 years after resection, the patient has no signs of tumor recurrence or hypoglycemia. CONCLUSIONS: An IGF-2-producing solitary fibrous tumor of pleura in this case caused hypoglycemia. From a search of the literature of 2004-2014, 32 cases of IGF-2oma with hypoglycemia that underwent radical surgery were identified; in 19 (59%) patients, hypoglycemia was reversed, and there was no subsequent recurrence. The remaining 13 (41%) patients experienced tumor recurrence or metastasis an average of 43 months after initial tumor resection. The tumor of the present case was a low-grade malignancy. Regular follow-up with biomarker monitoring of glucose metabolism and assessment of hypoglycemic symptomatology, in conjunction with imaging tests, is important for detecting possible tumor recurrence and metastasis.

New findings on the three-dimensional anatomical relations between the bronchi and pulmonary blood vessels at the pulmonary hilum.

During the 1940s, considerable knowledge was acquired about the anatomy of pulmonary segments, and anatomical terms were proposed and have been widely accepted. In recent years, minimally invasive and thoracoscopic segmentectomy has been performed with a versatile sublobar resection approach on patients with early peripheral lung cancer, metastatic lung tumors, and undiagnosed nodules. The three-dimensional (3D) anatomy of the bronchi and the pulmonary vessels has also been studied in individual patients. Three-dimensional models of the bronchi and pulmonary vessels were prepared using homemade software from computed tomograms (CT) of the chests of patients scheduled to undergo surgical procedures. Using these models, the authors examined the 3D positional relationships of the segmental broncho-arterial triangle (SBAT) created by three points defined by the origins and courses of the bronchi and the pulmonary arteries, which are located apart from each other at the pulmonary hilum, and the segmental pulmonary veins (SPV), which run near the SBAT. In the left and right upper lobes, many branches of the pulmonary arteries and parallel bronchi in subsegments were widely separated at the origin of the pulmonary hilum, creating a relatively large SBAT. However, as an exceptional case, an SPV passed through an SBAT in only one of 158 patients. To our knowledge, no similar findings have been documented previously. Our findings could help to determine resection surfaces for thoracoscopic segmentectomy in the future, and provide new insights into the 3D anatomy and development of the lung.

[Surgery for metastatic lung tumor from malignant tumor of liver, biliary duct and pancreas].

BACKGROUND: Resection of lung metastasis from malignant tumor of liver, biliary duct and pancreas has various controversial problems. These problems are that many patients have a progressive disease and there are few patients who can have resectable lesion. Generally the prognosis of these diseases is poor. In addition, the effect of pulmonary resection for lung metastasis from malignant tumor of liver, biliary duct and pancreas is unclear. We set out to investigate the outcome and usefulness of surgery in this group. PATIENTS AND METHODS: From January 1999 to November 2012, 18 patients underwent a total of 21 surgeries. There were 11 men and 7 women with mean age of 66.6±10( range, 43 to 78). Primary diseases of these patients were hepatocellular carcinoma in 5, cholangiocellular carcinoma in 1, cholangiocarcinoma in 2 and pancreatic cancer in 10 patients. RESULTS: Disease-free interval from 1st local therapy such as surgical treatment for primary lesion was 50.8±28.7(range, 19 to 107) months. Numbers of lung metastasis were 1 in 15, 2 in 4 patients and 3 in 1 patient. Many metastasis were in right lower lobe. Numbers of wedge resection were 13, segmentectomy were 4, lobectomy were 2 in these patients. Average of total survival time was 38±34 months. Four patients were dead. The 14 patients are alive and 7 patients had no recurrence. Adjuvant therapy such as chemotherapy was important. One-year all over survival rate after 1st pulmonary resection was 88%, 3 or 5-years was 73%. We think that it's was good result. CONCLUSION: There is a possibility that surgery for metastatic lung tumor from malignant tumor of liver, biliary duct and pancreas is useful by control of primary lesion and selecting of patients and adjuvant therapy such as chemotherapy.

Presurgical planning using a three-dimensional pulmonary model of the actual anatomy of patient with primary lung cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for both lobectomy and segmentectomy has been used widely for early stage nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The objective of this study was to investigate the clinical feasibility of surgical planning using patient's actual three-dimensional (3D) pulmonary model for the thoracoscopic surgical treatment of early stage NSCLC. METHODS: We examined 57 patients with stage IA NSCLC ≤ 2 cm in diameter. Based on patient's actual 3D pulmonary model created by using a homemade software program called CTTRY (Tokyo Women's Medical University, Tokyo, Japan), both the location of and extent of tumor invasion were assessed, and a suitable type of VATS lung resection for an individual was selected. RESULTS: By the 3D models, tumors in 47 patients were localized within one segment, and other tumors (10 patients, 18%) were involved in multiple segments. VATS lung resections consisted of a single segmentectomy were performed in 25 patients; upper division resections, 9; lingulectomy, 5; extended segmentectomy, 7; single subsegmentectomy, 6; and multiple subsegmentectomy, 5. All 57 patients underwent successful VATS lung resection without massive bleeding. CONCLUSION: Presurgical planning based on patient's actual 3D pulmonary model is useful for patients with stage IA NSCLC ≤ 2 cm in diameter and for selecting an appropriate VATS lung resection for an individual.

Complete video-assisted thoracoscopic multi-subsegmentectomy based on patients' specific virtual 3-D pulmonary models.

INTRODUCTION: Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery is widely used for resecting early-stage non-small cell lung cancer. Segmentectomy and subsegmentectomy require a thorough knowledge of the 3-D bronchovascular anatomy of the lung. Previously, our department reported using a 3-D pulmonary model of a patient for thoracoscopic surgical treatment of non-small cell lung cancer. This study investigates multi-segmentectomy for patients with non-small cell lung cancer. METHODS: Between July 2001 and January 2012, 943 patients underwent surgical resection of primary lung cancer. Of these, 11 patients had video-assisted thoracoscopic multi-subsegmentectomy. For preoperative simulation, virtual 3-D pulmonary models have been constructed since July 2001. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 69.2 ± 11.6 years (range, 43.0-86.0 years). Histological diagnoses included adenocarcinoma in eight patients, squamous cell carcinoma in two, and large cell carcinoma (neuroendocrine tumor) in one. Tumor size was ≤ 10 mm in one patient, 11-15 mm in four, 16-20 mm in four, and 21-25 mm in two. One patient was treated without lymphadenectomy, nine patients underwent additional hilar lymphadenectomy, and one patient underwent additional hilar and mediastinal lymphadenectomy. No patients were converted to thoracotomy. All patients had a macroscopically negative surgical margin. The pathological stage of patients was IA in nine patients, IB in one, and IIA in one. No pulmonary vessel injuries were found. Three patients had a prolonged lung air leak (> 6 days). CONCLUSION: Using a reconstructed 3-D pulmonary model, this study demonstrates that video-assisted thoracoscopic multiple subsegmentectomy is feasible with adequate margins in selected patients.

Controlled collagen crosslinking process in tissue-engineered fibroblast sheets for preventing scar contracture on the surface of lungs.

For preventing the scar contracture of host tissue and adjusting the tensile strength of covering cell sheets, a controlled collagen crosslinking step process in the preparation of skin-fibroblast sheets for repairing wound was investigated by using ß-aminopropionitrile (BAPN), a collagen crosslinking inhibitor, in the culture medium. Skin fibroblasts obtained from neonatal rats were cultured in medium with and without 0.25 mm BAPN for 7 days and seeded on temperature-responsive culture dishes. After the confluent cells were non-invasively harvested as a monolithic cell sheet, two cell sheets were transplanted to a lung-injury site of athymic rats, which was closed by neither fibrin glue nor suturing. Four weeks after the transplantation the animals were sacrificed and the lungs with the transplanted cell sheets were examined. Although the control cell sheet-transplanted lungs contracted the surrounding tissue, BAPN-treated cell sheet-transplanted lungs showed no contraction of the tissue. Collagen fibres of control cell sheets were more dense and thick than those of BAPN-treated cell sheets, where the crosslinking of collagen fibres was clearly inhibited. Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) showed that BAPN-treated cell sheets gave no ß-chain band, indicating that the collagen crosslinkings of the fibroblast sheets were able to be controlled by BAPN. BAPN-treated fibroblast sheets promise to allow wound clefts to be repaired without scar contractures.

Three-dimensional simulation, surgical navigation and thoracoscopic lung resection.

This report describes a 3-dimensional (3-D) video-assisted thoracoscopic lung resection guided by a 3-D video navigation system having a patient-specific 3-D reconstructed pulmonary model obtained by preoperative simulation. A 78-year-old man was found to have a small solitary pulmonary nodule in the left upper lobe in chest computed tomography. By a virtual 3-D pulmonary model the tumor was found to be involved in two subsegments (S1 + 2c and S3a). Complete video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery bi-subsegmentectomy was selected in simulation and was performed with lymph node dissection. A 3-D digital vision system was used for 3-D thoracoscopic performance. Wearing 3-D glasses, the patient's actual reconstructed 3-D model on 3-D liquid-crystal displays was observed, and the 3-D intraoperative field and the picture of 3-D reconstructed pulmonary model were compared.

[Surgical treatment for mediastinal cysts].

BACKGROUND: Since most of mediastinal cysts are benign tumors, video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) is optimal surgical procedure in recent years. It is important to select an appropriate approach accordance with the various locations of the cysts. METHODS: This is a retrospective review between 2005 and 2011 included 42 cases who had been undergone surgery for mediastinal cysts at the department. RESULTS: There were 19 males and 23 females, mean-age 58.9±11.8 year. The cysts in superior portion of the mediastinum, anterior and middle mediastinum were 2, 31, and 9 patients, respectively. Operative procedures included 3 or 4 ports in 11, mini-thoracotomy and 2 or 3 ports in 28, cervical incision and mini-thoracotomy and 2 ports in 1, median sternotomy in 2. Mean operative time was 128.8±62.8 minutes. The mean postoperative stay was 5.6±2.1 days. There was hardly a perioperative complication, excepting only 1 case of intraoperative hemorrhage. CONCLUSION: VATS allows various surgical approach to each location of mediastinal cysts, and less invasive procedure.

Successful excision of an isolated mediastinal cystic lymphangioma with bilateral thoracoscopic surgery.

Lymphangioma is a well-known benign tumor and its cystic abnormalities of the lymph vessels are predominantly congenital. Cystic lymphangioma usually occurs in the neck, axillary region, and rarely in the mediastinum, which frequently occurs in children and young adults. A 20-year-old woman had symptoms of palpitation, cough, and dyspnea during the recent 1 month. Both chest comuted tomography and magnetic resonance imaging of the chest revealed a well-defined, 13 × 10-cm cystic lesion in the anterior mediastinum. The patient underwent bilateral video-assisted thoracoscopic excision of the cyst and lymphangioma was confirmed based on histopathologic examination. Here, we report a rare case of isolated mediastinal cystic lymphangioma that was successfully excised using a minimally invasive technique.