[Bronchoplegic phenomena caused by vagal denervation. Experimental study]

For some years now, bronchial plastic surgery has given surgeons the possibility of radically treating patients with carcinoma of the lung that otherwise could not undergo surgery because of insufficient cardiorespiratory functional capacity as well as the peculiar endoluminal location of the neoplastic lesion. These methods, however, often show problems of dysventilation and bronchial engorgement that--in our opinion--are attributable to vagal denervation following surgical maneuvers. Hence, our study aimed at reproducing experimental surgical models of sleeve-resection in order to examine these problems. Consequently, we operated on 10 pigs divided into two groups (A end B) of 5 animals each; we performed surgery on the first five animals without removing vagal fibres, whereas in the other we have coupled sleeve-resection with vagal denervation of the residual parenchyma. All the animals have been followed-up by means of X-ray examination, bronchoscopy and direct stimulation of the cough-producing reflex (by means of the catheter positioned intraoperatively below the anastomosis). The data obtained confirm our assumptions, given that in "denervated animals" we observed a large engorgement of the respiratory tract with late onset of cough-producing reflex, while in the control group (without removal of vagal fibres) no bronchoplegic or alteration of the muco-ciliary clearance was found post-operatively. All animals, for the entire period of experimentation, received care in accordance with the "Principles of Laboratory Animal Care" formulated by the US National Society of Medical Research and the "Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals" (NIH Publication N. 80-23, revised in 1980).