Bradley M. Rodgers

Thoracoscopy in the management of empyema in children

Many pediatric surgeons advocate early open drainage or decortication for children with acute empyema. Unfortunately, such procedures can be associated with significant morbidity. Since 1981, we have used early thoracoscopic adhesiolysis and pleural debridement as an alternative to open thoracotomy in 9 children with acute empyema. The average age was 7.8 +/- 1.8 years (range, 2 to 16). All patients had failed initial treatment, which included antibiotics and chest tube drainage. All procedures were performed under general anesthesia. Following thoracoscopy, 8 of the 9 patients were managed with a single drainage tube and the average duration of tube drainage was 8.4 +/- 1.4 days. One patient died of underlying leukemia. Of the 8 patients who recovered, the average postoperative hospital stay was 13.4 +/- 2.9 days. No complications resulted from the thoracoscopies and there was no need for further surgical intervention in any of these patients. We conclude that thoracoscopy allows for minimally invasive, yet effective treatment of acute empyema with loculated collections. Thoracoscopic visualization of the pleural cavity permits efficient debridement, thorough adhesiolysis, and optimal placement of drainage tubes. Since we have begun using early thoracoscopy in the treatment of pediatric empyema, open drainage or decortication has not been required in any of these patients. Thoracoscopy is a useful adjunct in the treatment of empyema in children and its early application may eliminate the need for decortication.

Use of video-assisted thoracic surgery in the treatment of chylothorax.

Chylothorax, a potentially lethal disorder that may cause profound respiratory, nutritional, and immunologic complications, has become increasingly common in recent years. Medical therapy has been found to have a significant failure rate. Therefore, surgical treatment of complicated chylothorax has become a mainstay of care. Between 1987 and 1993, ten patients at the University of Virginia Hospital were treated with video-assisted thoracic surgery for complicated chylothorax. Twelve thoracoscopic procedures were performed. Patients ranged in age from 7 months to 82 years. Causes included iatrogenic (2), congenital (2), caval thrombosis (2), amyloid (2), blunt trauma (1), and metastatic carcinoid tumor (1). In 10 cases, video-assisted thoracic surgery was employed as the principal mode of therapy: 8 using talc pleurodesis alone, 1 using talc pleurodesis and clipping of the thoracic duct with application of fibrin glue, and 1 requiring clipping of a pleural defect with application of fibrin glue. In 2 cases, a video-assisted thoracic operation was used in conjunction with pleuroperitoneal shunting: a previously placed pleuroperitoneal shunt that was malfunctioning was repositioned thoracoscopically after a pleural adhesiolysis, and a pleural adhesiolysis was performed thoracoscopically before placement of a pleuroperitoneal shunt. In all cases the effusion resolved after the video-assisted thoracic operation without further intervention. Video-assisted thoracic surgery offers an effective means of treating chylothorax, regardless of cause, allowing the advantage of access to thoracic structures without the morbidity of more extensive procedures.

Thoracoscopic diagnosis and treatment of mediastinal masses

Evaluation of mediastinal masses often involves an array of imaging procedures and percutaneous biopsy techniques. Despite this, surgical intervention with an open biopsy is often required, especially to diagnose mediastinal malignancies. We report 22 patients with mediastinal masses who were managed with thoracoscopic biopsy, as opposed to open biopsy. All of these patients either had unsuccessful fine-needle aspiration or were unacceptable candidates for percutaneous aspiration. The patients ranged in age from 11 months to 67 years with a mean age of 17.2 +/- 3.6 years. Thoracoscopy provided an accurate tissue diagnosis in 19 of the 22 patients (86%) without need for an open diagnostic procedure. In 1 patient, histoplasmosis was suspected from the thoracoscopic biopsy, but open thoracotomy was needed for confirmation. Of the 19 patients with a positive tissue diagnosis, 3 patients had bronchogenic cysts that were completely resected by thoracoscopy. The mean duration of chest tube drainage was 2.3 +/- 0.2 days, and there were no complications or procedure-related deaths. The average length of hospitalization was 6.0 +/- 0.8 days. We believe that thoracoscopy is a safe, rapid, and effective modality for the diagnosis of mediastinal masses. Accurate tissue diagnoses are obtained in most patients without the need for additional procedures. In addition, we have demonstrated that complete excision of certain benign lesions during thoracoscopy is possible.

Pleuroperitoneal shunts in the management of persistent chylothorax

Between June 1981 and June 1988, we placed pleuroperitoneal shunts in 16 patients for the management of refractory chylothorax on the Pediatric Surgical Service, University of Virginia. The cause of the chylothorax was caval thrombosis from central venous catheters in 5 patients, idiopathic in 3, and mediastinal lymphangioma in 2, and in 6, it developed after a cardiac procedure. Chylothorax in each patient was unresponsive to thoracentesis, tube thoracostomy, and dietary manipulations. A Denver double-valved shunt system is currently employed and is implanted using general anesthesia. Manual pumping is required postoperatively for several months. Twelve (75%) of the 16 patients had excellent results with complete elimination of the chylothorax and resolution of symptoms. In 10 of these 12, the shunt has been removed. Four had an unsatisfactory result: 3 had inferior vena cava hypertension, and 3 were low-birth-weight premature infants. Four patients seen early in this series required revision of the position of the pleural catheter, with successful drainage in each instance. Pleuroperitoneal shunting is a safe, simple, and effective treatment of chylothorax in infants and children. In view of our success in treating chylothorax with these shunts, we recommend early shunting before the development of nutritional or immunological depletion.

Thoracoscopy and talc poudrage for pneumothoraces and effusions

The indications, technique, and results of thoracoscopic talc poudrage in the two clinical settings of pneumothorax and recurrent pleural effusion in chronically ill patients are reported. Forty patients underwent this treatment between May 1982 and September 1989. The patients ranged in age from 10 months to 78 years. Of the 20 patients who underwent treatment of pneumothorax, 9 had cystic fibrosis, 7 had severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 2 had spontaneous pneumothoraces, and 2 had postoperative parenchymal bronchopleural fistulas. Nineteen patients (95%) had successful treatment. Of the 20 patients who underwent treatment of chronic effusions, 14 had malignant etiologies, 3 had chylothoraces, and 3 had other miscellaneous effusions. Eighteen patients (90%) in this group had successful treatment. There were two hospital deaths related to the underlying disease processes after the pleural space problems were successfully treated. This study suggests that proper selection of patients and full exploitation of the capabilities of thoracoscopy and talc poudrage will result in effective treatment with low morbidity and mortality.

Neurological outcome is diminished in survivors of congenital diaphragmatic hernia requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation

In a series of 61 infants who had congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) treated at our center from 1978 through 1996, 37 of 59 (61%) survived the perioperative period with two infants lost to follow-up. Nine (47%) of 19 infants survived before the introduction of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) into our region in 1986. Since 1986, 28 (70%) of 40 infants survived. Eighteen infants required ECMO, and 12 (75%) survived. A chart review was performed to determine whether infants surviving CDH are suffering from delays in neurological development, and, if so, whether this is attributable to ECMO. Of 12 ECMO survivors, 8 (67%) exhibited functional or anatomic evidence for neurological delay. Of 21 non-ECMO survivors, where adequate follow-up was available to make an assessment of neurological development, five (24%) exhibited evidence for delay. This difference was significant (P < .05, Fishers Exact test). Of these five infants, three were premature, and one had DiGeorge syndrome. More ECMO survivors required diaphragmatic (67%) and abdominal (67%) patches at the time of diaphragmatic repair than non-ECMO survivors (4% and 12%, respectively; P < .05, Fishers Exact test). In addition, more ECMO survivors required gastrostomy tube placement for feeding (50%) than non-ECMO survivors (16%; P < .05, Fishers Exact test). A greater need for Nissen fundoplication in ECMO survivors (42%) than in non-ECMO survivors (12%) approached significance (P = .05, Fishers Exact test). There were trends toward higher 1 and 5 minute APGAR scores and initial and best preoperative P(O2) in the non-ECMO survivors. A comparison between ECMO survivors who exhibited evidence of neurological delay with those who did not showed no differences in duration of ECMO, incidence of intracranial complications during ECMO, need for gastrostomy tube feeding or Nissen fundoplication, or incidence of carotid artery repair between the two groups. Infants surviving CDH who require ECMO have a greater incidence of neurological delay than those who do not. This is likely because of severity of the presenting illness as reflected by a greater need for diaphragmatic and abdominal patches during diaphragmatic repair, the need for Nissen fundoplication and gastrostomy tube feeding, and a trend toward poor APGAR scores and best preoperative P(O2) levels in these patients. However, there may be characteristics of ECMO, as yet unidentified, that may contribute to this outcome.

Treatment evolution in high-risk congenital diaphragmatic hernia: ten years' experience with diaphragmatic agenesis.

Objective:The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of newer therapies on the highest risk patients with congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), those with agenesis of the diaphragm. Summary Background Data:CDH remains a significant cause of neonatal mortality. Many novel therapeutic interventions have been used in these infants. Those children with large defects or agenesis of the diaphragm have the highest mortality and morbidity. Methods:Twenty centers from 5 countries collected data prospectively on all liveborn infants with CDH over a 10-year period. The treatment and outcomes in these patients were examined. Patients were followed until death or hospital discharge. Results:A total of 1569 patients with CDH were seen between January 1995 and December 2004 in 20 centers. A total of 218 patients (14%) had diaphragmatic agenesis and underwent repair. The overall survival for all patients was 68%, while survival was 54% in patients with agenesis. When patients with diaphragmatic agenesis from the first 2 years were compared with similar patients from the last 2 years, there was significantly less use of ECMO (75% vs. 52%) and an increased use of inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) (30% vs. 80%). There was a trend toward improved survival in patients with agenesis from 47% in the first 2 years to 59% in the last 2 years. The survivors with diaphragmatic agenesis had prolonged hospital stays compared with patients without agenesis (median, 68 vs. 30 days). For the last 2 years of the study, 36% of the patients with agenesis were discharged on tube feedings and 22% on oxygen therapy. Conclusions:There has been a change in the management of infants with CDH with less frequent use of ECMO and a greater use of iNO in high-risk patients with a potential improvement in survival. However, the mortality, hospital length of stay, and morbidity in agenesis patients remain significant.

Management of chylopericardium

Chylopericardium is a rare entity that may be congenital in origin or secondary to surgical trauma, mediastinal lymphangiomas-hygromas, or radiation. Current treatment progresses from dietary medium-chain triglycerides and pericardiocentesis, to pericardial drainage, to thoracotomy with pericardiectomy and thoracic duct ligation. Between January 1986 and January 1989, we treated four children with chylopericardium: three secondary to mediastinal lymphangioma-hygroma, and one following cardiac surgery. The patients ranged in age from newborn to 16 years. All had signs of cardiac tamponade and three underwent initial pericardiocentesis or tube drainage. One 6-week-old infant with a mediastinal cystic hygroma developed chylopericardium following resection of the hygroma and responded to 9 days of tube drainage. The remaining children did not respond to repeated pericardiocenteses or prolonged drainage and underwent pericardial-peritoneal shunting with Denver shunts. The shunt was removed in 14 days in one patient. One patient had the shunt exteriorized for 8 weeks and one patient continues to use the shunt after 3 years. The chylopericardium resolved in each case without recurrence. Pericardial-peritoneal shunting provides a simple and effective alternative to prolonged pericardial drainage or thoracotomy in patients with chylopericardium of various etiologies.

Pediatric thoracoscopy: Where have we come and what have we learned?☆

The procedure of thoracoscopy was employed in adult patients for more than half a century before the first report evaluating its use in children was published in 1976. Initially thoracoscopy was proposed as a technique for obtaining pulmonary biopsy specimens in immunocompromised children when interstitial pneumonia developed, but, as more experience with the technique was gained, new indications for its use in children have arisen. A review of the published reports on the use of thoracoscopy in children has brought to light areas in which the procedure has been particularly useful as well as several limitations of the procedure. In properly selected patients, thoracoscopy is an extremely accurate method of tissue diagnosis for diffuse and localized pulmonary infiltrates. This technique may be the procedure of choice in the diagnosis of mediastinal lesions in children and in the surgical treatment of empyema and pneumothorax. Most of the morbidity and mortality reported for the procedure have been in patients with diffuse interstitial pneumonias. Such patients, who are on high-pressure ventilator support, are best managed by a standard open lung biopsy. Maintenance of a sufficient pneumothorax has proved difficult in very small infants and children, and the procedure may not be applicable in children who weigh under 8 kg. Refinements in thoracoscopy instrumentation will allow the performance of more complicated surgical dissections as pediatric surgeons acquire more familiarity with this technique.

Pleuroperitoneal shunts for refractory chylothorax after operation for congenital heart disease

Between 1980 and 1990, 10 of 12 children with a symptomatic chylothorax after operation for congenital heart disease failed to respond to traditional medical therapy (thoracentesis, tube thoracostomy, low-fat diet). All 10 patients underwent placement of a pleuroperitoneal shunt, with complete resolution of the chylothorax in 9 patients (90%). Cardiac catheterization, performed before placement of the pleuroperitoneal shunt in 5 patients, demonstrated elevated right atrial pressure in all patients (range, 10 to 25 mm Hg). The pleuroperitoneal shunt functioned effectively in 4 patients with moderately elevated right atrial pressures (range, 10 to 16 mm Hg; median, 13.5 mm Hg) but not in 1 patient with a right atrial pressure of 25 mm Hg. Pleuroperitoneal shunting as treatment for chylothorax after operation for congenital heart disease is safe and effective, even in the face of moderate elevations in right atrial pressure.