The surgical treatment of bronchiectasis

기관지확장증의 외과적 치료

Since the advent of potent chemotherapy, the incidence and severity of bronchiectasis have been on the decrease. Up to date, however, the medical treatment of bronchiectasis has not given us much satisfaction. Our purpose here is to show our experiences with pulmonary resections of bronchiectasis to clarify its surgical results and define its surgical indications. Sixty-five patients with bronchiectasis, treated surgically from January 1973 to December, 1982 at the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Kyungpook National University Hospital, were given clinical assessment. Of the 65 patients involved in the series, 49 were male and 16, female. The patients ranged from 8 to 51 in ages, with 59 cases [91%] between 10 and 39 years old. The prominent clinical features were as follows: cough [88%], sputum production [78%], recurrent upper respiratory infection [51%], and frequent hemoptysis [32%]. The past history of the patients included measles 29%, whooping cough 14%, pulmonary tuberculosis 12%, and pneumonia or bronchitis 12%. The cylindrical type of the bronchiectasis was found to be most common, accounting for 43% of the cases. The operations were performed on the left lung in 52 cases and the right lung in 13 cases. The most common operative procedure was the left lower lobectomy and lingular segmentectomy, which showed 34%. The second most frequent procedure was the simple left lower lobectomy which was 22%. Incomplete resections of the multisegmental bronchiectasis were carried out in 12 cases, of which 7 cases were satisfactory Four patients underwent bilateral pulmonary resections for the severe multisegmental bilateral bronchiectases, during the first and second operations. Improvement in pulmonary symptoms was generally obtained in all four cases. The follow-up ranged from 1 week to 7 tears, with an average of 18.8 months. The overall results revealed that 87% of these and excellent or good conditions, but 13% had persistent symptoms. There was one operative death, which is a 1.5% mortality.