Pierre Fuentes

Video-assisted minithoracotomy versus muscle-sparing thoracotomy for performing lobectomy

We prospectively analyzed the outcome of lobectomy in a cohort of 67 patients. Operative time, postoperative pain, pulmonary function, and early outcome were compared between the patients undergoing video-assisted techniques (n = 44) and those undergoing standard muscle-sparing procedures (n = 23). Pain was quantified daily throughout the first week using the visual analog scale. The forced expiratory volume in 1 second and the forced vital capacity were measured at days 2, 4, and 8 postoperatively. The operative time was significantly longer (p < 0.02) and the postoperative pain was significantly less (p < 0.006) in the group undergoing video-assisted procedures. Pain-related morbidity, the mean duration of air leaks, the duration of chest tube placement, and the hospital stay were all less in the video-assisted group, but the differences did not reach statistical significance. However, the impairment in pulmonary function and the overall morbidity were identical for the two groups. Based on our findings, we conclude that video-assisted minithoracotomy is a safe and reliable approach for performing lobectomies, and that the decreased postoperative pain associated with this minimally invasive approach does not result in preserved pulmonary function and significantly reduced morbidity when compared with a muscle-sparing thoracotomy.

Colon Interposition for Esophageal Replacement: Current Indications and Long-Term Function

BACKGROUND In contrast to the use of the stomach as an esophageal substitute, the use of the colon is becoming uncommon. METHODS From 1985 to 1995, 60 patients underwent colon interposition for esophageal cancer (n = 37), benign stricture (n = 13), iatrogenic fistula (n = 5), achalasia (n = 3), or necrosis of a previous substitute (n = 2). A long isoperistaltic conduit based on the left colonic artery could be used in 52 patients (86.7%). The surgical route used was through the esophageal bed in 38 patients (63.3%), under the sternum in 21 patients, and under the skin in 1 patient. RESULTS Colon interposition represented 18.5% of all operations performed for esophageal substitution during the study period. The choice of the colon resulted from an inadequate stomach in 33 cases (55%). The operative mortality rate was 8.3%. Seven patients (13.5%) required dilation of the esophagocolonic anastomosis. At last follow-up, 34 patients (65.4%) had no difficulty eating. Multivariate analysis identified the conduit position in the posterior mediastinum as the sole independent predictor of a good functional result (p = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS Colon interposition for esophageal substitution, usually performed when the stomach is not available, provides satisfactory function when placed in the esophageal bed.

Operative Risk and Prognostic Factors of Typical Bronchial Carcinoid Tumors

BACKGROUND This study estimated operative risk and examined factors determining long-term survival after resection of typical carcinoid tumors. METHODS From 1976 to 1996, 139 consecutive patients (66 male and 73 female patients with a mean age of 47 +/- 15 years) underwent thoracotomy for typical carcinoid tumor. The tumors were centrally located in 102 patients (73.4%). RESULTS Radical resection was performed in 106 patients (7 pneumonectomies, 13 bilobectomies, and 86 lobectomies) and conservative resection in 33 (3 segmentectomies, 3 wedge resections, 20 sleeve lobectomies, and 7 sleeve bronchectomies). There were no postoperative deaths. Complications occurred in 19 patients (13.7%). The morbidity rate was not increased after bronchoplastic procedures (chi 2 = 0.033, not significant). Staging was pT1 in 107 patients (77.0%) and pT2 in 32 (23.0%); 13 patients (9.4%) had nodal metastases. Seventeen patients have died (12.2%), during follow-up, but only three deaths were related to the disease. The overall survival rate at 5, 10, and 15 years was estimated to be 92.4%, 88.3%, and 76.4%, respectively; estimated disease-free survival was 100% at 5 years and 91.4% at 10 and 15 years. Estimated survival of patients with lymph node metastasis was 100% at 5, 10, and 15 years. Univariate analysis failed to demonstrate any prognostic significance for sex, tumor size (T1 versus T2), tumor location (central versus peripheral), and type of resection. CONCLUSIONS These data confirm an excellent prognosis after complete resection of typical carcinoid tumors, including those with lymph node metastases. Parenchyma-saving resections should be preferred.

Upregulation of chemokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid as a predictive marker of post-transplant airway obliteration

BACKGROUND The early stage of post-transplant obliterative bronchiolitis (OB) is characterized by an influx of inflammatory cells to the lung, among which neutrophils may play a role in key events. The potential for chemokines to induce leukocyte accumulation in the alveolar space was investigated. We assessed whether changes in the chemotactic expression profile could be used as sensitive markers of the onset of OB. METHODS Serial bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluids from 13 stable healthy recipients and 8 patients who developed bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) were analyzed longitudinally for concentrations of interleukin-8 (IL-8), chemokines regulated-upon-activation and normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES) and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), soluble intracellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1) and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1). These were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). RESULTS Significantly elevated percentages of BAL neutrophils and IL-8 levels were found at the pre-clinical stage of BOS, on average 151 +/- 164 days and 307 +/- 266 days, respectively, before diagnosis of BOS. There was also early upregulation of RANTES and MCP-1 in the BOS group (mean 253 +/- 323 and 152 +/- 80 days, respectively, before diagnosis of BOS). The level of MCP-1 was consistently higher than that of RANTES until airway obliteration. BAL sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1 levels were not statistically different between the groups. CONCLUSIONS These data support the belief that RANTES, IL-8 and MCP-1 play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of OB. The results show that relevant increased levels of such chemokines may predict BOS, and suggest that there is potential for some of these markers to be used as early and sensitive markers of the onset of BOS. Longitudinal monitoring of these chemokine signals may contribute to better management of patients at risk for developing OB, at a stage when remodeling can either be reversed or altered.

Inoperable nonmetastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus managed by concomitant chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil and cisplatin) and radiation therapy

Thirty‐five patients with nonmetastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus were treated with chemotherapy (5‐fluorouracil, cisplatin) and concomitant split‐course radiation therapy. All of the patients presented with dysphagia. Treatment consisted of two courses of chemotherapy with 5‐FU (1 g/m2/day in continuous infusion for 5 days [days 1 to 5 and days 29 to 33]) and cisplatin (70 mg/m2 intravenous bolus at days 2 and 30). Radiation therapy was concomitant in two courses delivering 20 Gy in 5 days (days 1 to 5 and days 29 to 33). On the first day of treatment, endoscopic peroral dilation or Nd‐YAG laser therapy was usually carried out. At the end of the treatment, all of the patients were capable of oral nutrition. Histoendoscopic confirmation was made 8 weeks after the beginning of the therapy. Twenty‐five of the 35 patients had a complete response with negative biopsy findings. There was only one serious complication (fatal myelosuppression) in the only patient who received more than two courses of chemotherapy. Sixteen patients died and 19 were still alive at 3 to 42 months after the beginning of treatment. Overall median survival for the 35 patients is 17 months. Actuarial survival was 55 ± 18% at 1 year and 41 ± 21% at 2 years. The median survival of the Stage I and II patients is 28 months. These results confirm that concomitant chemoradiotherapy is capable of producing a very high histoendoscopic complete response rate and improved 1‐year and 2‐year survival. The use of concentrated split‐course radiotherapy enabled the authors to reduce the total length of the treatment to two periods of 5 days, with results that are similar to previous studies using classic radiotherapy for a 5‐week to 7‐week period.

Management of superior sulcus tumors: experience with 139 cases treated by surgical resection.

BACKGROUND The management of non-small cell carcinomas of the lung involving the superior sulcus remains controversial. The goal of this retrospective study was to evaluate the role of surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy for the treatment of superior sulcus tumors, to define the best surgical approach for radical resection, and to identify factors influencing long-term survival. METHODS Between 1983 and 1999, 139 patients underwent surgical resection of superior sulcus tumors in seven thoracic surgery centers. According to the classification of the American Joint Committee, 51.1% of cancers were stage IIB, 13.7% stage IIIA, 32.4% stage IIIB, and 2.9% stage IV. RESULTS The resections were performed with 74.1% using the posterior approach and 25.9% using an anterior approach. A lobectomy was accomplished in 69.8% of the cases and a wedge resection in 22.3%. Resection of a segment of vertebrae or subclavian artery was performed, respectively, in 19.4% and 18% of the cases. Resection was complete in 81.3% of cancers. The overall 5-year survival rate was 35%. Preoperative radiotherapy improved 5-year survival for stages IIB-IIIA. Surgical approach, postoperative radiotherapy, or chemotherapy did not change survival. CONCLUSIONS The optimal treatment for superior sulcus tumors is complete surgical resection. The surgical approach (anterior/posterior) did not influence the 5-year survival rate. Preoperative radiotherapy should be recommended to improve outcome of patients with a superior sulcus tumor.

Stage I non-small cell lung cancer: a pragmatic approach to prognosis after complete resection

BACKGROUND Long-term results of the surgical treatment of stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are disappointing. METHODS Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted on 515 consecutive lung resections for stage I NSCLC performed from 1990 to 1999 and identified by reviewing a database into which data were entered prospectively. Tumors were staged as stages IA (n = 147) and IB (n = 348) according to the 1997 UICC (Union Internationale Contre le Cancer) pTNM classification. RESULTS Operative mortality rates were 6.2%, 5.3%, 2.3%, and 0% for pneumonectomy, bilobectomy, lobectomy, and lesser resections, respectively. Overall survival rate was 61.1% (55.8% to 66.5%) at 5 years. Univariate analysis identified three significant adverse prognosticators: arteriosclerosis as comorbidity, pathologic T2 status, and blood vessel invasion. Male sex (p = 0.056) and performance of pneumonectomy (p = 0.057) were at the threshold of statistical significance. At multivariate analysis, three independent prognosticators entered the model: arteriosclerosis, blood vessels invasion, and performance of pneumonectomy. CONCLUSIONS Long-term survival of patients with completely resected stage I NSCLC was adversely influenced in a relatively balanced way by factors related to the clinical status of the patient, to the tumor, and to the treatment.

Indications and outcome of salvage surgery for oesophageal cancer

OBJECTIVE Some patients with localised oesophageal cancer are treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT) rather than surgery. A subset of these patients experiences local failure, relapse or treatment-related complication without distant metastases, with no other curative treatment option but salvage oesophagectomy. The aim of this study was to assess the benefit/risk ratio of surgery in such context. METHODS Review of a single institution experience with 24 patients: 18 men and 6 women, with a mean age of 59 years (+/-9). Histology was squamous cell carcinoma in 18 cases and adenocarcinoma in 6. Initial stages were cIIA (n=5), cIIB (n=1) and cIII (n=18). CRT consisted of 2-6 sessions of the association 5-fluorouracil/cisplatin concomitantly with a 50-75 Gy radiation therapy. Salvage oesophagectomy was considered for the following reasons: relapse of the disease with conclusive (n=11) or inconclusive biopsies (n=7), intractable stenosis (n=3), and perforation or severe oesophagitis (n=3), at a mean delay of 74 days (14-240 days) following completion of CRT. RESULTS All patients underwent a transthoracic en-bloc oesophagectomy with 2-field lymphadenectomy. Thirty-day and 90-day mortality rates were 21% and 25%, respectively. Anastomotic leakage (p=0.05), cardiac failure (p=0.05), length of stay (p=0.03) and the number of packed red blood cells (p=0.02) were more frequent in patients who received more than 55 Gy, leading to a doubled in-hospital mortality when compared to that of patients having received lower doses. A R0 resection was achieved in 21 patients (87.5%). A complete pathological response (ypT0N0) was observed in 3 patients (12.5%). Overall and disease-free 5-year survival rates were 35% and 21%, respectively. There was no long-term survivor following R1-R2 resections. Functional results were good in more than 80% of the long-term survivors. CONCLUSION Salvage surgery is a highly invasive and morbid operation after a volume dose of radiation exceeding 55 Gy. The indication must be carefully considered, with care taken to avoid incomplete resections. Given that long-term survival with a fair quality of life can be achieved, such high-risk surgery should be considered in selected patients at an experienced centre.

Pneumonectomy: historical perspective and prospective insight

I would like to thank you for the honour of electing me as your President. My purpose will be today to share with you some considerations about an operation that has crossed the 20th century by typifying the greatness and servitude of thoracic surgery, while keeping many of its mysteries at the beginning of the 21st, I mean pneumonectomy. The first pneumonectomy was performed in multiple stages by Macewen in 1895 in a patient with tuberculosis and empyema. Further attempts with one-stage pneumonectomy had not meet with success. In 1910, Kummel realised a pneumonectomy for lung cancer by clamping the pedicle and leaving the clamps in situ; the patient eventually died on the 6th operative day. The first individual hilar ligation was achieved by Hinz in 1922, and that patient succumbed to heart failure on day 3. Churchill in 1930, Archibald in 1931, and Ivanissevich in 1933 also attempted removal of a whole lung with no survivor beyond a few days. The first successful left-sided pneumonectomy as a two-stage procedure has been performed in Europe by Rudolf Nissen in 1930 in Berlin. In 1933, Graham and Singer reported the first successful en bloc left pneumonectomy, for lung cancer, followed by Overholt who reported the first successful en bloc right pneumonectomy in a patient with a carcinoid tumour in 1935 [1]. Since then, much has been written about the technique, risks, and indications of pneumonectomy, along with the development of our speciality. Obviously, thoracic surgery made great strides with endotracheal mechanical ventilation. The possibility of excluding the ventilation of the operated side was offered from 1935 by Magill. Carlens introduced the first double lumen tube for thoracic surgery in 1950. It needed to wait for the 1970s so that a new technological overhang transforms the daily surgical practice with the invention of surgical staplers, developed during the previous decade by soviet researchers. Finally, the advent of video-assisted surgery and the development of minimally invasive approaches end temporarily this chapter of the technological advances. At the same time, as a better knowledge of cardiac and respiratory physiology was acquired, more and more sophisticated methods of evaluation were developed and provided reasonable guidelines for the relative risk of patient presenting for various sized pulmonary resection and for pneumonectomy. Furthermore, indications for pneumonectomy changed over time. Nowadays, the epidemic development of lung cancer makes the first application of it. Indeed, pneumonectomy for inflammatory lung disease, bronchiectasis, tuberculosis, and other non-malignant conditions is quite uncommon in modern-days medicine. With the advent of lung transplantation, the thoracic surgeon even learnt to replace the removed lung in selected cases. However, despite many efforts, pneumonectomy remains a challenging operation, carrying many complications and anatomic and physiologic changes.

Clinical utility of bronchoalveolar lavage cell phenotype analyses in the postoperative monitoring of lung transplant recipients

OBJECTIVE Bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid provides a crucial tool for investigation of the cellular component of the deep lung spaces and hence to approach the alloreactive response following lung transplantation. This study investigated whether BAL cell profiles can assist for the diagnosis of certain postoperative complications. METHODS We conducted a retrospective analysis of both transbronchial biopsy and bronchoalveolar lavage materials in a series of 26 consecutive lung transplant recipients (LTR) in relationship with their clinical status at the time of the procedure. BAL fluid was subjected to cell morphology as well as flow cytometric phenotypic analyses. The samples were labeled as follows: normal transplant in clinically stable and healthy recipients, n=58; acute rejection (AR), n=58; infection (INF), n=31; and obliterative bronchiolitis/bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (OB/BOS) n=27. RESULTS Total BAL cell counts were the highest in INF. Lymphocytic alveolitis was suggestive of both acute allograft rejection and CMV viral infection, with a combined significant increased HLA-DR positive cells in AR. Alveolar neutrophilia with an increased CD4/CD8 ratio was correlated with the diagnosis of OB. The neutrophil percentages, HLA-DR and CD57 positive cells were significantly higher when an infection was present. CONCLUSION These findings suggest that BAL cell analysis could give complementary information of histological data and further insight into immunologic events after lung allograft. A longitudinal surveillance of BAL cell profiles in an individual patient may be suggestive for a preclinical state of posttransplant acute rejection, bacterial infection and obliterative bronchiolitis.