Retrocardiac lung hernia after thoracic esophagectomy: report of a rare case

A retrocardiac lung hernia is an extremely rare complication after esophagectomy. A 56-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with advanced middle thoracic esophageal cancer and a giant bulla at the apical portion of the right lung. Since it appeared that dissection of the upper mediastinum would most likely require resection of the right bulla, a two-stage operation for esophageal cancer was planned. During the first-stage operation, thoracic esophagectomy and resection of the right giant bulla were performed. Fourteen days after the first-stage operation, the patient underwent laparotomy as the second-stage operation to reconstruct a narrow gastric tube via a retrosternal route. After the second-stage operation, the inflammatory reaction was prolonged. Therefore, a thoracoabdominal computed tomography scan was performed, showing retrocardiac pulmonary atelectasis. The patient was diagnosed with a retrocardiac left lung hernia in which the left lower lobe was displaced into the right thoracic cavity. Because the inflammatory reaction was due to effects of the lung hernia, a repair operation was performed via a left seventh intercostal thoracotomy. At thoracotomy, the left basal segment of the lung was atelectatic and reddish and had herniated into the right thoracic cavity through an opening between the aorta and pericardium. The herniated lung tip adhered strongly to the subcarina, and synechiotomy was performed. We believe that simultaneous removal of the right giant bulla with esophagectomy was the important cause of this complication.