[A case of completion pneumonectomy with carinal wedge resection after sleeve upper lobectomy for right lung cancer]

A 58-year-old man underwent sleeve upper lobectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of the right lung in April 1993. Eleven months after the operation, local recurrence at the bronchial suture line was detected by bronchoscopy. As the patient declined our proposal for performing reoperation, the recurrent tumor was treated with concurrent radiotherapy and chemotherapy, which resulted in only minimal response. After these treatment, the tumor was still localized at the right pulmonary hilus with no distant metastasis, and patient's pulmonary function was preserved good enough to undergo reoperation. Therefore, with a patient's consent to reoperation, we performed completion pneumonectomy with carinal wedge resection in September 1994. Pedicled serratus anterior muscle flap was applied to the suture line in order to prevent anastomotic complications. Postoperative course was uneventful except for pneumonia, and the anastomosis had healed well. As of March 1997 the patient is alive with no evidence of tumor recurrence. Completion pneumonectomy with carinal resection carries a high risk of operative morbidity and is seldom indicated. We reported a patient underwent this procedure for recurrent lung cancer and discussed about its indication and procedure.