Coronary artery bypass grafting after pneumonectomy

The need to perform coronary artery bypass grafting in patients who have a single lung is not uncommon. To date, the safety of such procedures has not been well documented. In this article, we review the literature using the Medline 1966 to September 2000 database to identify patients with pneumonectomy who underwent coronary artery grafting and we provide a compilation of all reported cases. We also present an additional case in whom the use of nasal bilevel positive airway pressure was beneficial in preventing postoperative pulmonary complications.