[Surgical Removal of a Metallic Staple in Right Lower Bronchus, Aspirated a Year Before].

A 77-year-old man was referred to our hospital, due to an intrabronchial foreign body. He had aspirated a metallic staple during carpentry work a year before. A bronchoscopic examination revealed a fixed metallic staple at the entrance of right lower bronchus surrounded by granulation tissue, causing a marked bronchial stenosis.

[Primary lung cancer with pulmonary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy mimicking bone metastasis; report of a case].

A 64-year-old man visited our hospital, due to right shoulder pain and fever. Chest X-ray revealed a well-defined tumor in the upper field of the left lung, and the histological diagnosis was adenocarcinoma. Bone scintigraphy demonstrated abnormal accumulation localized in the right shoulder joints.

Pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung: a surgical outcome.

Objectives: Pleomorphic carcinoma of the lung, a rare malignant disease with a dual-cell component of spindle and/or giant cells, and of epithelial cells, was defined in the World Health Organization classification updated in 1999. Reported prognoses are heterogeneous, and optimal treatment remains undefined.

Methods: Data were retrospectively examined for 45 consecutive patients (41 men and 4 women) who had undergone surgical resection for pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma.

Bronchoplasty for bronchial carcinoid tumor without removing lung parenchyma.

A 15-year-old boy was admitted with a pneumothorax of the left lung. Computed tomographic scans demonstrated a tumor 20 mm in diameter situated on the left main to upper lobar bronchus that eventually was proved to be a typical carcinoid tumor by transbronchial biopsy. We performed bronchial resection with atypical bronchoplasty, which preserves lung parenchyma in cases of s-T1N0M0 disease.

Selective mediastinal lymphadenectomy for clinico-surgical stage I non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Improved radiologic imaging provides earlier detection of non-small cell lung cancer, but controversy exists regarding the need for complete lymph node dissection. This study was designed to evaluate the possibility of lesser mediastinal dissection for early-stage lung cancer.

Methods: Selective mediastinal dissection is defined as follows: Dissection of the upper mediastinum for upper-lobe tumors is performed but it is not needed for lower-lobe tumors with intact hilar and lower mediastinal nodes.

Hybrid surgical approach of video-assisted minithoracotomy for lung cancer: significance of direct visualization on quality of surgery.

Study Objectives: Controversy regarding the most suitable surgical approach for treating malignancies of the lung is a matter of continuous discussions. "Complete" video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) that is performed using only the vision of a monitor is generally limited to lung resections of minimal difficulty. With the great interest in minimally invasive techniques for treating various pathologies, we have widely applied an integrated surgical approach that combines muscle-sparing minithoracotomy (incision, 4 to 10 cm) and video assistance using mainly direct visualization of the lung resection, which we have called hybrid VATS.

Border between N1 and N2 stations in lung carcinoma: lessons from lymph node metastatic patterns of lower lobe tumors.

Objective: Distinction of lymph node stations is one of the most crucial topics still not entirely resolved by many lung cancer surgeons. The nodes around the junction of the hilum and mediastinum are key points at issue. We examined the spread pattern of lymph node metastases, investigated the prognosis according to the level of the involved nodes, and conclusively analyzed the border between N1 and N2 stations.

Effect of tumor size on prognosis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer: the role of segmentectomy as a type of lesser resection.

Objective: As a result of increasing discovery of small-sized lung cancer in clinical practice, tumor size has come to be considered an important variable affecting planning of treatment. Nevertheless, there have been no reports including large numbers of patients and focusing on tumor size, and controversy remains concerning the surgical management of small-sized tumors. Therefore, we investigated the relationships between tumor dimension and clinical and follow-up data, as well as surgical procedure in particular.

Sleeve segmentectomy for non-small cell lung carcinoma.

Objective: Although sleeve segmentectomy for centrally located lung cancers was originally designed for patients unable to tolerate lobectomy, we have tried it in patients with noncompromised function as well. We evaluated the efficiency of this atypical type of bronchoplasty.

Methods: Of 202 patients for whom we performed bronchoplasty for primary non-small cell lung carcinoma, 16 underwent sleeve segmentectomy.

Effect of histologic type and smoking status on interpretation of serum carcinoembryonic antigen value in non-small cell lung carcinoma.

Background: Serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) has all of the properties desired for a biologic measure to be used as a prognostic indicator in the clinical evaluation of lung cancer. Carcinoembryonic antigen value appears to be related to tumor histologic type and patients' smoking status, which has yet to be intensively analyzed as reports available thus far have consisted of a limited number of patients. This study was undertaken to determine whether the prognostic value of CEA differs according to histologic type in a large group of patients with clinical early-stage lung cancer, and how smoking influences its value.

Prognostic significance of perioperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen in non-small cell lung cancer: analysis of 1,000 consecutive resections for clinical stage I disease.

Background: The prognostic implication of serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) has yet to be comprehensively analyzed since the reports available so far have comprised small patient populations. We evaluated perioperative CEA values with regard to surgical results in a large number of patients to clarify its merit.

Methods: We measured serum CEA levels before and after surgery in 1,000 consecutive patients with clinical stage I non-small cell lung cancer who underwent resection of tumor.

Evolution of surgical outcomes for nonsmall cell lung cancer: time trends in 1465 consecutive patients undergoing complete resection.

Background: Lung cancer is still the most common cause of death due to cancer. Although the 5-year survival rate of patients with lung cancer is reported to be increasing, whether the surgical results have actually been improving or not is controversial. We reviewed our experience to evaluate time trends of surgical outcomes in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer.