The "Kergin pneumonectomy"

Abstract

Out of a series of 211 stage III (A and B) lung cancers radically resected with routine lymphadenectomy from 1971 to 1987, a total of 11 were squamous cell carcinomas invading the right main bronchus and lateral portion of the trachea. These patients were managed using a particular technique that we have always arbitrarily called, "Kergin pneumonectomy," after the Toronto surgeon who described it in 1952. These patients, today, are staged III B. There was no operative mortality and only 2 minor complications. Two patients survived 3 years and 1 is alive and free of disease 7 years from surgery. This technique should be considered before embarking on more perilous surgery such as "sleeve pneumonectomy," a procedure which still carries high mortality and morbidity rates and requires special equipment and intensive postoperative care.