title: Thoracoscopic lobectomy for lung cancer in a patient with a partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection: a case report.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection is a rare congenital defect in which blood from the pulmonary vein is returned to the right atrium. Asymptomatic patients with a partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection with a small left-to-right shunt do not require surgical treatment. If such patients require a major lung resection, the surgical procedure could precipitate fetal right heart failure if the anomalous venous connection remains uncorrected.
  
  
  METHODS
  A 59-year-old man was found to have an abnormal shadow on chest roentgenogram. Chest computed tomography imaging showed a mass in the right upper lobe. At the same time, we incidentally found an anomalous vessel. We diagnosed the abnormality as a partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection. Because the mass may have been lung cancer, a right upper lobectomy was performed using video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. The right upper lobe vein drained into the superior vena cava. The anomaly was not corrected and the surgery was successful. His postoperative course was uneventful without cardiac failure.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Before performing a major lung resection, surgeons should be aware of this rare anomaly and carefully interpret clinical images of all pulmonary veins.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Yokosuka Kyosai Hospital, 1-16 Yonegahamadori, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, 238-8558, Japan. ma03007@yahoo.co.jp.
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Inafuku
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Yokosuka Kyosai Hospital, 1-16 Yonegahamadori, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, 238-8558, Japan.
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Morohoshi
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Yokosuka Kyosai Hospital, 1-16 Yonegahamadori, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, 238-8558, Japan.
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Adachi
authors.affiliation: Department of General Thoracic Surgery, Yokosuka Kyosai Hospital, 1-16 Yonegahamadori, Yokosuka, Kanagawa, 238-8558, Japan.
authors.forename: Keisuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koumori
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Yokohama City University Graduate School of Medicine, 3-9 Fukuura, Kanazawa-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 236-0004, Japan.
authors.forename: Munetaka
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masuda
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011013:Pneumonectomy / Q000379:methods*; D011667:Pulmonary Veins / Q000002:abnormalities* / Q000601:surgery; D012587:Scimitar Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D054079:Vascular Malformations / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D014683:Vena Cava, Superior / Q000002:abnormalities
keywords: Case report; Lung cancer; Partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection; Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery