Huang QQ, He ZL, Wu YY, Liu ZJ. Limited thoracoplasty and free musculocutaneous flap transposition for postpneumonectomy empyema: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2021; 9(27): 8114-8119 [PMID: 34621869 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i27.8114]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Zhong-Liang He, MD, Chief Doctor, Director, Surgeon, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, No. 234 Gucui Road, Hangzhou 310012, Zhejiang Province, China. doctorhzl@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Surgery
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Sep 26, 2021; 9(27): 8114-8119 Published online Sep 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i27.8114
Limited thoracoplasty and free musculocutaneous flap transposition for postpneumonectomy empyema: A case report
Qian-Qian Huang, Zhong-Liang He, Yong-Yong Wu, Zhi-Jun Liu
Qian-Qian Huang, Operating Room, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310012, Zhejiang Province, China
Zhong-Liang He, Yong-Yong Wu, Zhi-Jun Liu, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou 310012, Zhejiang Province, China
Author contributions: Huang QQ, Wu YY and Liu ZJ were the patient’s cardiothoracic surgeons and nurse, reviewed the literature and contributed to manuscript drafting; He ZL was responsible for the revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; all authors issued final approval for the version to be submitted.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of this case report and the accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised accordingly.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Zhong-Liang He, MD, Chief Doctor, Director, Surgeon, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Tongde Hospital of Zhejiang Province, No. 234 Gucui Road, Hangzhou 310012, Zhejiang Province, China. doctorhzl@163.com
Received: April 10, 2021 Peer-review started: April 10, 2021 First decision: May 11, 2021 Revised: May 24, 2021 Accepted: August 12, 2021 Article in press: August 12, 2021 Published online: September 26, 2021
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Empyema is a severe complication following pneumonectomy that is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Although there are a wide variety of treatment options, successful management remains challenging when this condition is combined with a large cavity in very thin patients who had previously undergone a posterolateral thoracotomy.
CASE SUMMARY
We reported the case of a thin, 63-year-old man with a progressive pulmonary cyst who underwent left pneumonectomy via posterolateral thoracotomy 23 years ago. After an initially uneventful postoperative course, he was readmitted with empyema and a large cavity 21 years after surgery. He was successfully treated with limited thoracoplasty, followed by free vastus lateralis musculocutaneous flap transposition.
CONCLUSION
This case highlights that the treatment mode of limited thoracoplasty and free vastus lateralis musculocutaneous flap transposition is safe and effective for the management of postpneumonectomy empyema with a large cavity in thin patients who had previously undergone a posterolateral thoracotomy.
Core Tip: Empyema is a severe complication following pneumonectomy and is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Although there are a wide variety of treatment options, successful management remains challenging. We performed limited thoracoplasty and free vastus lateralis musculocutaneous flap transposition for postpneumonectomy empyema with a large cavity in a thin patient who had previously undergone a posterolateral thoracotomy. This treatment mode is safe and effective for such patients.
