Tuberculosis a disease that created and shaped thoracic surgery.

Today it is incredible to think that an infectious disease, Tuberculosis (TB) as the disease that shaped Thoracic Surgery. The history of TB has so far evolved similarities with that of the mythological Phoenix, where the resurgence of this never completely eradicated "Insidious Disease" has now re-emerged and brought new challenges to modern medicine that of multi drug resistance. The probability of success, in treating complicated multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB pushing us back to the pre-antibiotic era, now depends on several factors: (I) optimal antibiotic management; (II) patient compliance; (III) multi-disciplinary teamwork; (IV) experience in carrying out "not-routine" surgical procedures; and finally (V) ability to offer long term patient hospitalization, frequently months, without bureaucratic and economical problems.

Non-small cell lung cancer in surgically treated women.

Aim And Background: To determine whether female patients operated on for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have a survival advantage compared to male patients.

Methods And Study Design: We analyzed data from 1,426 prospectively collected patients submitted to lung resection for NSCLC between 1999 and 2008.

Results: Two groups, including 1,014 male and 412 female patients, were compared.

Pulmonary aspergilloma: clinical aspects and surgical treatment outcome.

Aspergillomas are fungal balls within lung cavities. The natural history is variable. Hemoptysis is a dangerous sequela.

Use of the proposals of the international association for the study of lung cancer in the forthcoming edition of lung cancer staging system to predict long-term prognosis of operated patients.

Purpose: To evaluate the utility of the proposals of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in the forthcoming 7th edition of lung cancer staging system to classify patients submitted to radical surgical resection of non-small cell lung cancer and to compare their value in predicting long-term prognosis with the existing 6th edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC)/Union Internationale Contre le Cancer (UICC) TNM classification.

Methods: Nine hundred twenty-one patients received an anatomic resection and hilar-mediastinal dissection for primary non-small cell lung cancer during the period 1990 to 2005. Histopathologic staging following the actual AJCC/UICC TNM classification were as follows: 207 T1, 562 T2, 148 T3, and 4 T4; 570 N0, 149 N1, 198 N2, and 4 N3; 163 stage IA, 346 IB, 23 IIA, 157 IIB, 224 IIIA, and 8 IIIB.

Open window thoracostomy for pleural empyema complicating partial lung resection.

Background: Although an open-window thoracostomy (OWT) represents the ideal method for drainage of postpneumonectomy empyema, several controversies exist concerning its application to pleural empyema complicating pulmonary resections less than pneumonectomy.

Methods: Between January 1993 and December 2003, 19 patients (16 male and 3 female) were treated for a pleural empyema complicating partial lung resection. The median age was 62 years (range, 17 to 79).

Predictors of successful closure of open window thoracostomy for postpneumonectomy empyema.

Background: Although the open window thoracostomy (OWT) represents the ideal method for drainage of postpneumonectomy empyema (PPE), several controversies exist concerning its closure.

Methods: Between January 1993 and December 2003, an OWT was created in 31 patients (29 male and 2 female) with PPE. The median age was 61 years (range, 32 to 76).