[Bilateral pulmonary resections for bilateral bronchiectasis]

The present paper reports on 6 cases of bilateral bronchiectasis in patients aged 11 to 63 years, treated by simultaneous bilateral pulmonary resection and 1 case of bilateral bronchiectasis in which 14 segments were resected successively. Surgery by simultaneous bilateral approach and associated resection of the affected areas is a procedure that should be indicated, in the authors' opinion, only in carefully selected cases in which not more than 13 segments have to be resected. The indications and contraindications of surgery in bilateral bronchiectasis are discussed, preference being given to the simultaneous approach. In the cases reported at most 11 1/2 segments of the four pulmonary lobes affected were resected in a single stage; in 1 case 14 segments were resected successively, the resection exceeding in amplitude all similar one published until now. The immediate and late postoperative evolution (lesional and functional) were favourable, which pleads for a reconsideration of the approach to bilateral bronchiectasis and the application of the surgical treatment recommended, within the limits described.