• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.133-137
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• 2018

Pulmonary nodular lymphoid hyperplasia is a reactive lymphoproliferative disease. It is very rare, which means that many aspects of the disease are unknown or have not been proven. Pulmonary nodular lymphoid hyperplasia can be symptomatic or asymptomatic, progressive or not, and solitary or multiple, and a surgical approach is the current treatment of choice. We present a case of pulmonary nodular lymphoid hyperplasia that was visualized as multiple ground glass opacities on a computed tomography (C T) scan, and observed for 1 year because the patient was pregnant. Over this period, the number and extent of the opacities progressed, but no symptoms were reported. A surgical biopsy was done and some remaining lesions regressed on follow-up CT scans, while others progressed, without any appearance of symptoms.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.484-488
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• 1999

Massive lung gangrene is a rare but very rapidly progressing fatal complication of lobar pneumonia. Etiologic agents are Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pneumococcus and Aspergillus, etc. Chest X-ray shows firm consolidation of the involved pulmonary lobe and bulging fissure due to the volume expansion of involved lung. CT-scan shows extensive lung parenchymal destructions with multiple small cavitary lesions. Recommended treatment is the early surgical intervention combined with antibiotics. Without surgical intervention, lung gangrene is known to progress toward sepsis, multiorgan failure, and high mortality. We report two cases of rapidly progressing massive lung gangrene by Klebsiella pneumonia treated by the resectional surgery.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.599-604
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• 2002

Acute or chronic aortic dissection may lead to the rupture, which is the major cause of death. A dissecting aneurysm of ascending aorta(Stanford type A dissection) can rupture into the superior vena cava producing a aortocaval fistula, which is rare, but has been reported mostly in the cases of abdominal aortic aneurysm. We report a case of 67-year-old man with type A chronic dissection and aortocaval fistula, presenting symptoms of superior vena syndrome. The preoperative diagnosis was composed of radiologic examinations, including computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging angiography and aortography. The dissecting aneurysm was resected and replaced, and the aortocaval fistula was repaired under deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. The details are described here.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.315-317
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• 2002

Pulmonary actinomycosis is a rare disease entity to undergo thoracic surgery. We experienced a 49-year-old man with pulmonary actinomycosis who was admitted due to recurrent hemoptysis. Prior to admission, he was diagnosed as pulmonary tuberculosis on the basis of his clinical manifestations and chest radiological findings. The plain chest x-ray and chest computed tomography(CT) showed a cavitary lesion in left upper lobe and was given anti-tuberculous medication, but the x-ray revealed no imprcovement. He underwent left upper lobe lobectomy with segmentectomy of lower lobe and the surgical specimen showed no evidence of mycobacterial infection, but revealed sulfur granules which is a typical pathological finding of actinomycosis. He was discharged uneventfully and is scheduled to receive 6 months of antibiotic treatment.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.40 no.12
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• pp.878-881
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• 2007

Pneumocephalus after thoracoscopic excision of a mediastinal mass is a very rare complication. It presumably occurs due to dural injury near the spinal root and development of a subsequent subarachnoid-pleural fistula. A 60-year-old woman complained of nausea and headache after thoracoscopic excision of a posterior mediastinal mass. She was diagnosed with pneumocephalus by brain CT and recovered with supportive management.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1028-1031
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• 1997

Rupture of an innominate artery caused by blunt chest trauma is extremel rare because this artery is short and relatively well protected by the bony cage. This report describes a 37-year-old male who sustained a blunt chest injury that resulted in an innominate artery rupture, detected by chest CT and thoracic aortography. The patient underwent an urgent operation through median sternotomy. A 3 by 3 m sized pseudoaneurysm of proximal innominate artery was found with a complete intimal tear. After the origin of the innominate artery was closed, the injured segment of artery was excised and an aorto-innominate artery bypass with a 10 mm Gore-tex graft was performed without use of a shunt. The patient was discharged 20 days later without neurologic complications and had equal blood pressure in both arms.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.10
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• pp.1036-1039
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• 1997

Primary pulmonary artery sarcoma is a rare tumor and commonly misdiagnosed as pulmonary embolism. The prognosis of these tumors is very poor. The Median length of survival without surgical resection is approximately 1.5 months, but surgical resection has lengthened survival time to approximately 1 year. We encountered a case of primary pulmonary artery sarcoma, with a 55 year-old woman whose symptoms were exertional dysp ea, right chest pain, and hemoptysis. A preoperative chest CT scan revealed mass lesion mimicking pulmonary embolism. Pulmonary angioplasty and right Pneumonectomy were Performed on partial cardiopulmonary bypass. Postoperatively the mass was confirmed as undifferenciated sarcoma histopathologically. The symptoms were somewhat improved, but the patient died of unknown causes about 3 months after surgery.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.340-343
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• 1997

We experienced a female patient with intramural hematoma of the aorta. This patient had a severe anterior chest pain radiating to interscapular area with choking sensation. CT revealed a intramural hematoma of the thoracic aorta and a part of the abdominal aorta but there was no evidence of intimal tearing. We did the eme gency operation under hypothermic circulatory arrest and retrograde cerebral perfusion. Ascending aorta was replaced and coronary artery bypass graft was done because of intimal tearing of the ostium of right coronary artery. She was discharged without any significant complication. We reported this case with consideration about necessity of emergency operation for intramural hematoma of the thoracic aorta.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.39 no.5 s.262
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• pp.423-425
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• 2006

A case report of lymphangiohemangioma of the mediastinum that was misdiagnosed as thymic origin mass on chest CT and MR angiography. Operative finding revealed vascular proliferation originated from innominate vein and the pathologic finding showed both lymphatic and vascular component which was diagnosed lymphangiohemangioma.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.850-853
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• 1994

Open lung biopsy was performed in thirty patients for the diagnosis and staging evaluation of interstitial lung disease during the period from January 1987 until December 1992. The age of the patients ranged from 14 to 71 years [mean 48 years], and the patients consisted of 14 males and 16 females. Preoperative FEV1`s were from 0.80 liter to 3.88 liters [mean 1.66]. Other non-invasive diagnostic studies such as PCNA, bronchoalveolar lavage, TBLB, and gallium scan were also done in addition to X-ray and high-resolution chest CT. Tweaty-eight were correctly diagnosed and 2 cases were not [diagnostic yield rate 93.3%]. Among the 28 cases,pathologic diagnosis influenced further treatment regimens and prognostic expectations in 23 cases [82.1%]. The diagnostic non-invasive studies other than open lung biopsy yielded a correct diagnosis without staging only in 5 cases. There was no mortality and only one complication, ARDS ; however, the patient recovered after 5 days ventilator support. Open lung biopsy, which is the gold standard for the diagnosis and staging evaluation of interstitial lung disease can be done safely and has value in clinical decision making. Also knowledge of the involvement of the lesion is important for proper selection of the biopsy site.