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Ann Thorac Surg 2001;72:1877-1882
© 2001 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
a Department of Thoracic Surgery, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
b Department of Pathology, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou, Paris, France
c Department of Bacteriology, Hôpital Necker, Paris, France
Accepted for publication August 17, 2001.
* Address reprint requests to Dr Riquet, Service de Chirurgie Thoracique, Hôpital Européen Georges Pompidou 20 rue Leblanc, 75015 Paris, France
e-mail: marc.riquet{at}hop.egp-ap-hsp-paris.fr
| Abstract |
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Methods. Eighteen patients underwent pulmonary resection between 1991 and 2000: 14 men and 4 women, with a mean age of 50 ± 12 years (range 27 to 68 years). Indications for operation were either therapeutic (n = 9) or diagnostic (n = 9). Four patients received antimycobacterial chemotherapy before their operation and 2 patients were HIV positive.
Results. Therapeutic procedures included completion pneumonectomy (n = 1), lobectomy (n = 6), segmentectomy (n = 1), and bilateral wedge resection (n = 1). Diagnostic procedures included lobectomy (n = 1) and wedge resection (n = 8). Complete resection could be achieved in 15 patients (83%). There was no in-hospital mortality. Postoperative complications included prolonged air leak (5 of 18 patients, 27.7%) and pleural effusion requiring insertion of a new chest tube (3 of 18 patients, 16.6%). Mean hospital stay was 14 ± 8 days. Follow-up was 100% complete. Eleven patients received antimycobacterial chemotherapy for 4 to 24 months, postoperatively. Late mortality was 11% and was unrelated to progression of mycobacterial disease. After the operation, the sputum remained positive in only 2 patients (11%) with incomplete resections. Fourteen patients were asymptomatic with no relapse at a mean follow-up of 38 ± 22 months (range 85 to 13 months).
Conclusions. Resection represents an important adjunct to chemotherapy for the treatment of M xenopi pulmonary disease. In the setting of localized nodular or cavitary disease, failure to respond to medical therapy, relapse after treatment discontinuation, coexistent aspergilloma or polymicrobial contamination, or patient intolerance of medical therapy, pulmonary resection can be undertaken with acceptable morbidity and mortality.
| Introduction |
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| Material and methods |
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All patients had close clinical follow-up and news on recent medical conditions was obtained from the referring physicians or pulmonologists. All patients had postoperative evaluation including chest roentgenogram, chest computed tomography, pulmonary function tests, arterial blood gas analysis, bronchoscopy, and smear and culture of sputum. Microbiologic relapse was defined as two or more positive cultures with one or more cultures being positive for M xenopi or three or more positive cultures, which were all M xenopi smear negative after being culture negative a minimum of 4 months [1].
At our institution, between 1991 and 1996, Lowenstein-Jensen medium (37°C) was used exclusively and examined weekly for 100 days, for the diagnosis of NTM disease. From November 1996, the Bacteriology Laboratory used both the Lowenstein-Jensen medium and the mycobacteria growth indicator tube (MGIT, Becton-Dickinson; BACTEC MGIT 960). The culture time in the MGIT system was reduced to 8 weeks. Identification of M xenopi was performed by standard biochemical testing and confirmed by molecular biology techniques (PCR, Innolipa). The Middlebrook 7H11 medium was used to determine minimal inhibitory concentration to the different antimycobacterial drugs. During the same period our pathologist used the Ziehl staining to detect AFB on surgical specimens.
| Results |
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Bacteriologic findings
Four patients in group 1 had M xenopi found in the preoperative sputum on more than three successive samples. Those patients received antimycobacterial chemotherapy preoperatively, including clarithromycin, ofloxacin, ethambutol, and rifabutin for 4 to 8 months. All other patients had sputum cultures that were negative for M xenopi and no other mycobacterium could be isolated from sputum cultures preoperatively. Two patients in group 1 had coexistent aspergilloma diagnosed preoperatively. One patient in group 1 had polymicrobial infection (Enterobacter cloacae + Klebsiella pneumoniae) diagnosed preoperatively.
Surgical procedures
Indications for operation are reported in Table 3. Nine patients were operated on with a therapeutic intent and nine with a diagnostic intent. Four patients had a destroyed pulmonary lobe (n = 3) or segment (n = 1) with positive sputum persisting after 4 to 8 months of chemotherapy. In those patients, resectional surgical procedures were used to facilitate cure of the M xenopi infection. Three patients were operated on for resection of bullae with hydroaeric level and coexisting pulmonary nodule.
Patients were operated on using double-lumen endotracheal tubes. Rib blocks and patient-controlled analgesia were used routinely. Nineteen operations were performed in 18 patients. In group 1, 1 patient had a completion right pneumonectomy performed 11 years after bilobectomy (upper and middle lobectomy) for lung cancer. Six patients had right upper lobectomy and 1 patient had a right apicodorsal segmentectomy. One patient had a bilateral apical wedge resection performed by video-assisted thoracic surgery. Those resections were associated with a pleural decortication in seven cases because of tight pleural adhesions. No muscle flap was used to improve healing of the bronchial stumps, even in patients who had positive sputum at the time of operation. However, every attempt was made to cover the bronchial stump in those patients with either a pleural or pericardial flap. In group 2, 1 patient had a right upper lobectomy and 8 patients had a wedge resection involving the left upper lobe (n = 2), left lower lobe (n = 2), both left upper and lower lobes (n = 2), right upper lobe (n = 1), and both right middle and lower lobes (n = 1). Two patients had their wedge resection performed by videothoracoscopy. Complete resection was achieved in 15 patients (8 patients in group 1 and 7 patients in group 2).
Surgical specimens demonstrated granulomatous inflammation in all patients. Direct microscopic examination (Ziehl staining) was AFB positive in five cases. All patients had M xenopi isolated from surgical specimens within 20 to 100 days, either with the Lowenstein-Jensen medium or the MGIT, or both. Mean time for isolation of M xenopi was 60 ± 23 days (median 54 days) with the Lowenstein-Jensen medium and 40 ± 15 days (median 35 days) with the MGIT. Only 2 patients had M xenopi infection that was resistant to rifampin. All other patients had M xenopi infection that responded to clarithromycin, ofloxacin/ciprofloxacin/sparfloxacin, ethambutol, rifampin, and rifabutin.
Postoperative course and follow-up
In-hospital mortality was 0%. The average time to removal of all chest tubes was 11 ± 9 days (range 4 to 26 days, median 6 days) in group 1, and 7 ± 7 days (1 to 23 days, median 4.5 days) in group 2. Mean hospital stay was 16 ± 7 days (range 7 to 26 days, median 13 days) in group 1, and 12.5 ± 8.5 days (range 4 to 29 days, median 9.5 days) in group 2. Postoperative complications in group 1 patients included prolonged air leak (longer than 7 days) in 2 (22%) and pleural effusion requiring insertion of a new chest tube in 2 (22%). In group 2, 3 patients (33%) had prolonged air leak and 1 patient (11%) had pleural effusion requiring chest tube drainage.
Follow-up was 100% complete. Mean follow-up was 36 ± 21 months (range 13 to 85 months, median 30.5 months). Mean follow-up for group 1 patients was 36 ± 21 months (range 18 to 85 months, median 34 months) and mean follow-up for group 2 patients was 36 ± 23 months (range 13 to 76 months, median 27 months). There were 2 late deaths, one in group 1 resulting from a ruptured aortic aneurysm at 48 months, and the other in group 2 because of AIDS progression 8 months postoperatively. One patient in group 1 with severe emphysema was on a wait list for a pulmonary transplantation.
Most patients were given antituberculous chemotherapy, postoperatively, based on pathologic examination, except patients with a preoperative diagnosis of M xenopi pulmonary disease (n = 4), who received a drug regimen adapted to the preoperative antibiogram. Two of those patients were given treatment for 12 months postoperatively. Considering that the diseased pulmonary lobe or segment had been resected, and that further treatment was not needed, the 2 other patients did not receive any postoperative chemotherapy. Most of the other patients were initially put on a regimen associating izoniazid, rifampicin, and ethambutol, before the results of specimen cultures revealed M xenopi. Then treatment was adapted to the antibiogram in each patient (Table 4).
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All other patients (n = 16) had repeatedly negative sputum after their operations and have been well, except the 2 patients who died. They also have undergone regular evaluations in our outpatient clinic. Thirteen patients have been well and living normally, with chest roentgenogram and pulmonary function tests being satisfactory. One patient with severe emphysema was put on a wait list for a pulmonary transplantation.
| Comment |
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In the United States, M avium-intracellulare and M kansasii are the most frequent NTM pathogens causing lung disease [1, 14]. In Europe and some parts of Canada (Ontario), M xenopi ranks second overall to M avium-intracellulare [14]. Recent publications have reported a dramatic rise in number of M xenopi isolates, probably because of the use of more sensitive laboratory isolation techniques (MGIT systems), rather than a true increase in clinical disease [14]. Although clinical M xenopi lung disease is still considered unusual even in HIV-positive patients, recent reports have indicated a dramatic rise in NTM disease due to M xenopi among AIDS patients [1417]. It is of interest to mention that no patient with M xenopi pulmonary disease has been operated on in our department from 1981 through 1990. All cases reported in the present series have been treated since 1994, attesting to better isolation techniques for the past 6 years.
Treatment for M xenopi lung disease before the 1990s had represented a problem because of the variable in vitro susceptibility of this NTM to the common antimycobacterial drugs [6, 7]. Moreover, the results of susceptibility tests performed by the modal resistance method do not correlate with the clinical response to chemotherapy in most patients [18]. However, the addition of clarithromycin, rifabutin, and fluorinated quinolones to the available treatment regimens has improved the results of medical therapy, although these results have been barely reported in recent literature [3, 4, 19].
Most patients in our series were immunocompetent and demonstrated upper lobe cavitary disease, as reported by others [20]. Of the 2 HIV-positive patients, 1 had an excavated nodule in the right upper lobe and the other had multiple bilateral nodules. Those results are in accordance with the current literature [17, 20]. Of importance, 7 patients in our series required decortication because of adjacent pleural disease. This feature should be kept in mind when planning a pulmonary resection in patients with M xenopi lung disease.
Because of the poor response to medical therapy and the high prevalence of relapse after treatment discontinuation, some researchers have recommended early pulmonary resection in patients who can tolerate it [5, 11]. Banks and colleagues [5] reported a series of 47 patients treated between 1970 and 1979: 23% of patients were cured with chemotherapy alone and 26% eventually relapsed. Resection was performed in 5 patients with resultant cure in 4 and postoperative death in 1 [5]. These investigators stated that "earlier intervention while the disease remains limited is likely to carry a better chance of success" and that "resection might be part of first-line treatment and should usually be performed if patients fail to respond to initial chemotherapy or if they relapse" [5]. Bellamy and colleagues [8] reported 4 patients with bullous emphysema and clinical M xenopi lung disease. All patients had resectional operation with resultant cure in 3 [8]. Parrot and Grosset [11] reported a multi-institutional series of 57 patients with M xenopi pulmonary infection who underwent operations in France between 1964 and 1985. In that series, 50% of patients were cured, but 13% had relapses [11]. Recently, Froidure and colleagues [2] reported 8 HIV-negative patients treated for M xenopi lung disease between 1994 and 1999: 2 were operated on with resultant cure, although they did not receive postoperative chemotherapy. In the present study, more than 85% of patients who had had surgical resection combined or not with chemotherapy have been cured. Only 2 patients have had repeated positive cultures of sputum, although their pulmonary disease has remain stable clinically and radiologically.
Indications and timing for operation remain controversial and no clear recommendation has been published for the treatment of M xenopi pulmonary disease [1]. Most patients having pneumonectomy or lobectomy in our series, as in others, had been followed up for months or years before undergoing operation. It should be stressed that entire lobar or segmental destruction has occurred in most of these patients with localized and apparently indolent NTM disease. Four drugs regimens associating clarithromycin, rifabutin, and ethambutol with another antibiotic have demonstrated good results in AIDS patients with NTM disease [3, 4]. In the present series, all patients with cavitary disease who did receive this type of regimen preoperatively had pulmonary disease progression under treatment. Moreover, all patients in our series had surgical specimens that were positive for M xenopi, whether or not they received preoperative chemotherapy. Therefore, resection seems necessary to obtain reliable cure and prevent relapse in patients with M xenopi pulmonary disease who can tolerate resection, especially those with cavitary disease. Other arguments support early operation in patients with M xenopi pulmonary disease: more than 70% of such patients subsequently develop aspergilloma, a proportion much higher than in other NTM diseases [21]. Moreover, unsuspected lung cancer was diagnosed on surgical specimens in 2 patients in our series operated on with a therapeutic intent [22].
Based on other experiences, we elected to operate on patients with positive smears and cultures after at least 3 months of appropriate chemotherapy [10]. Thus, increased mortality and morbidity have been reported in patients with positive sputum at the time of operation [10, 23]. Considering the high rate of bronchopleural fistulas occurring in those patients, liberal use of muscle flaps have been recommended by other researchers [10]. We agree that in case of anticipated space problem in those patients, muscle flaps or thoracoplasty may be useful [10, 24]. In agreement with other researchers, we recommend operation in patients with localized disease before entire lobe or entire lung destruction [2325]. Operation should also be considered an absolute indication in patients with massive hemoptysis, fungal balls, or polymicrobial infection. Careful preoperative evaluation with chest roentgenogram, chest computed tomography, pulmonary function tests, bronchoscopy, and quantitative ventilation/perfusion scans should be performed to determine which type of resection the patient can tolerate. Whenever possible, all diseased lung tissue should be resected to achieve a low reactivation rate. Lobectomy, segmentectomy, or wedge resection can be performed, depending on the patients functional status and on the lesion. Pneumonectomy should be considered only in patients with a destroyed lung and unilateral disease. Postoperative chemotherapy should be maintained in patients with incomplete resection for at least 12 months, depending on whether the smear and culture of sputum are negative. Based on our experience, postoperative chemotherapy is not mandatory in patients with complete resection. Whether postoperative chemotherapy should be maintained preventively in patients with AIDS or immunocompromise remains to be established. Patients whose condition does not respond to medical therapy or who cannot tolerate resection because of poor functional status or disseminated infectious process might benefit from collapse therapy with plombage [26].
Resectional surgical procedures can be performed in patients with M xenopi with low mortality and morbidity and resultant cure in more than 85%. Surgical procedures should be considered as part of first-line therapy for patients with localized disease, cavitary disease, persistent sputum positivity, intolerance to chemotherapy or prolonged chemotherapy, coexistent Aspergillus infection, polymicrobial contamination, and hemoptysis. When M xenopi is discovered incidentally on surgical specimens, postoperative chemotherapy seems appropriate in patients with AIDS, immunosuppression, or those with incomplete resection.
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