A Clinical Review of the 100 Cases of Pneumonectomy

일측폐 전적출술 100례에 대한 임상적 고찰: 특히 합병증의 원인에 대하여

During the last 10 years of period, one hundred patients with various pulmonary diseases were pneumonectomized upon at the Department of Chest Surgery of Pusan University Hospital. This paper is concerned with the clnical results of these patients along with the serious postoperative complications such as postoperative intrapleural infection and hemorrhage. The results were obtained as follows. 1.Left pneumonectomy was done in sixty-six of 100 patients [66 %] and the right one was done in the rest thirty-four[34 %]. The ratio between left and right was nearly 2:1. 2.Of all oostoperative complications, the intrapleural infection was most common, and these were 53 % in empyema thoracis and 12.7 % in pulmonary tuberculosis respectively. 3.More postoperative complications could be seen after right pneumonectomy than the left one. 4.It was thought that the postoperative intrapleural infection was closely correlated with the methods of pleural dissection at pneumonectomy,postoperatlve tube drainage, time of operation, massive hemorrhage during operation, prolongation of bleeding time, and dysfunction of the liver. 5.The repeated thoracenteses with infusion of neomycin into the infected thoracic cavity and intravenous administrations of the high units of penicillin were effective in treatment of the postoperative intrapleural infection, however, the refractory cases have to be cured by thoracoplasty with open window. 6.Immediate secondary open thoracotomy appears to be the method of choice in life saving who developed massive intrathoracic hemorrhage after pneumonectomy. 7.The mortality rate was 10 % in our cases and the main causes of death were postoperative respiratory insufficiency, pulmonary edema, hemorrhage and sudden cardiac arrest.