Bilateral sleeve lobectomy for metachronous multiple primary lung cancer

Abstract

In a patient with metachronous multiple primary lung cancer, bilateral lobectomy was performed, using bronchoplastic procedures. This case may be one of very few such cases reported in the literature. A 56-year-old man with squamous cell carcinoma was surgically treated for lung cancer. At the first operation, right upper lobectomy with wedge resection of the right main bronchus was performed, as the tumor occupied the orifice of the right main bronchus. Six months later, re-operation for stricture at the anastomotic line was done because of granulation. By means of sleeve resection of the strictured right main bronchus, the airway was reconstructed. The patient remained well for five years, then a similar cancer at the orifice of the left lower lobe and bulging into the left main bronchus became evident. Left lower sleeve lobectomy was done for the second primary cancer. The postoperative course was uneventful and he is well with no signs of recurrence 6 years and 10 months after the first operation and 19 months after the second sleeve lobectomy.