The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 56, 357-358, Copyright © 1993 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Hemorrhage due to inflammatory erosion of the pulmonary artery stump in postpneumonectomy bronchopleural fistula
K Khargi, VA Duurkens, PJ Knaepen and AB de la Riviere
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Academic Hospital Leiden, The Netherlands.
Bleeding from the pulmonary artery in patients with a bronchopleural
fistula after pneumonectomy is a rare but devastating complication. The
incidence is unknown, but our data suggest an incidence of 4% in all
postpneumonectomy bronchopleural fistulas. Two case histories are presented
in which the anterior transpericardial approach was used to stop the
pulmonary bleeding by direct suturing. Nevertheless, 1 patient died 5 days
later because of irreversible brain damage; the other patient recovered
well after a protracted convalescence.