Bronchopulmonary artery double sleeve angioplasty

  Patient XXX, male, 60 years old, was admitted to the hospital with recurrent cough for two months. CT examination of the chest suggested that a tumor about 5*4 cm in size was seen in the upper lobe of the left lung, located at the root of the hilar, obstructing the bronchus of the upper lobe of the left lung and invading the root of the artery of the upper lobe of the left lung; fibrinoscopy suggested that the infiltrative neoplasm obstructed the opening of the bronchus of the left upper lobe. The diagnosis of central lung cancer in the upper lobe of the left lung was made.  According to the patient’s condition, a bronchopulmonary artery double-sleeve plication left upper lobe lung resection was required. This procedure is a technically challenging thoracic surgery under conventional open chest, and it is even more difficult to perform the bronchial anastomosis under a fully televised thoracoscopic two-dimensional view. The most difficult part of the full thoracoscopic bronchopulmonary artery double sleeve angioplasty lung cancer resection is the need to block the pulmonary artery and the interference of the instruments with the operation, as well as the test of the operator’s technical and psychological quality by continuously anastomosing the bronchus and pulmonary artery under the thoracoscope.  After careful preoperative preparation, our surgical team headed by Dr. Hu De-hong, chief of thoracic surgery, performed “total thoracoscopic bronchopulmonary artery double-sleeve shaped lung cancer resection” on the patient. During the operation, only three small holes of about 2 cm were made in the left chest wall of the patient instead of the incision of about 30 cm in the traditional surgery. During the operation, the thoracoscopic investigation revealed that the tumor was located in the root of the upper lobe of the left lung, with a size of about 5×4.5×4 cm, and was closely encircling the left main bronchus and the main trunk of the left pulmonary artery at the pulmonary hilum, which was consistent with the preoperative judgment. The main difficulty of the operation was the anastomosis after cutting the main bronchus and the left pulmonary artery.  With advanced concept, solid foundation of lumpectomy and excellent technique, the operator successfully resected the central lung cancer and anastomosed the left main bronchus and left pulmonary artery. After the surgery, the patient recovered smoothly and all vital signs were stable. Thoracoscopic anastomosis of blood vessels and bronchus is a difficult and high-precision operation, which is rarely reported in the international arena.  The successful performance of “full thoracoscopic bronchopulmonary artery double-sleeve shaping lung cancer resection” is another milestone in the history of thoracoscopic surgery in our hospital, which makes the promotion and application of minimally invasive thoracoscopic technology another solid step forward. The successful performance of this type of complex surgery, in turn, has a great guiding effect on the smooth development of common thoracoscopic lung cancer resection surgery.