title: Complete left-sided pericardial defect in a lung cancer patient undergoing pneumonectomy without closure of the defect.
abstract: A 61-year-old asymptomatic man underwent a left pneumonectomy for Stage IIIA lung cancer. At thoracotomy, the pericardium was found to be completely absent; however, we did not close the defect. Although the heart was rotated toward the left pleural cavity in the postoperative chest computed tomography (CT), the postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient has remained asymptomatic for 7 months, since the resection. We reviewed the preoperative chest CT, which showed the heart extending unusually to the left, but the pericardial defect was not evident. Complete pericardial defects usually do not endanger the lives of patients, and if the patient is asymptomatic, surgical repair of the defect may be unnecessary even during a left pneumonectomy.
authors.affiliation: Division of Thoracic Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital East, 6-5-1 Kashiwanoha, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan.
authors.forename: Yoshihisa
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shimada
authors.forename: Junji
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: Keijyu
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Aokage
authors.forename: Tomoyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hishida
authors.forename: Mitsuyo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: Kanji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagai
mesh_terms: D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D033162:Incidental Findings; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010496:Pericardium / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D011013:Pneumonectomy; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome