HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Alper Toker Akif Turna Atilla Gürses Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Toker, A. Articles by Gürses, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Toker, A. Articles by Gürses, A. Related Collections Lung - other Related Article

Ann Thorac Surg 2001;71:2083
© 2001 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

---

Correspondence

Pleural tent after upper lobectomy: routine or selective?

^a Department of Thoracic Surgery, Yedikule Pulmonary Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Center, Belgrad Kapi Yolu. No: 7 Zeytinburnu, Istanbul 34760, Turkey

e-mail: aetoker{at}superonline.com

To the Editor

We read with interest the article by Brunelli and colleagues [1] concerning the pleural tent after upper lobectomy. The authors believe in the routine use of pleural tent after upper lobectomy in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who are at higher risk of developing prolonged postoperative air leaks. The authors reported that a pleural tent reduced the days of postoperative air leak (1.2 ± 2 versus 5.8 ± 7.9), and duration of chest tubes (5.4 ± 1.7 versus 10.4 ± 7.5).

We reviewed our experience in 27 (13 right and 14 left) upper lobectomies performed with mediastinal lymph node dissection for lung cancer from January 1994 through January 2000. The patients who underwent chest wall resection and mechanical ventilation were excluded. We found that the duration of postoperative air leak was 2.57 ± 2.85 days and that mean duration of chest tubes was 5.8 ± 2.30 days. We did not perform a pleural tent in those patients. In a similar study, it was reported that the duration of mean air leak in the nontented group was 3.9 ± 1.2, whereas mean chest tube duration was 6.6 ± 1.0 days [2].

The mean duration of chest tubes and postoperative air leak assessed from our and Robinson and Preksto’s [2] nontented patients are similar to the results of tented patients reported by Brunelli and associates [1]. The value of pleural tent after upper lobectomy may be exaggerated since the mean duration of chest tubes and postoperative air leak in nontented patients was unexpectedly long. Thus, we believe that pleural tent should be used selectively rather than routinely for upper lobectomies.

References

1. Brunelli A., Al Refai M., Muti M., Sabbatini A., Fianchini A. Pleural tent after upper lobectomy: a prospective randomized study. Ann Thorac Surg 2000;69:1722-1724.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
2. Robinson L.A., Preksto D. Pleural tenting during upper lobectomy decreases chest tube time and total hospitalization days. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1998;115:319-326.[Abstract/Free Full Text]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Alper Toker Akif Turna Atilla Gürses Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Toker, A. Articles by Gürses, A. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Toker, A. Articles by Gürses, A. Related Collections Lung - other Related Article