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Case Reports

Obliteration of Empyema Space by Vascularized Anterolateral Thigh Flaps

^a Department of General Thoracic, Breast and Endocrinological Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan
^b Department of Plastic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, Kagawa, Japan

Accepted for publication September 2, 2008.

^_* Address correspondence to Dr Okuda, Department of General Thoracic, Breast and Endocrinological Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Kagawa University, 1750-1, Ikenobe, Miki-cho, Kita-gun, Kagawa, 761-0793, Japan (Email: okuda{at}med.kagawa-u.ac.jp).

Closure of the fistula and an appropriate choice of obliterating agents are crucial for the treatment of empyema with bronchopleural fistula. The choice of the material to be used for obliteration of the pleural space is a difficult one in some patients, such as those with empyema, developing after omentectomy, laparotomy, posterolateral thoracotomy, and so forth. The use of free anterolateral thigh flaps for obliteration of the pleural space generally needs a satisfactory vascular network around the thorax. We report two successfully treated cases of empyema with bronchial fistula, which were otherwise difficult to manage, in which a free anterolateral thigh musculocutaneous flap anastomosed to the superior thyroid vessels used to obliterate the pleural space.

This article has been cited by other articles:

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