Reduction of the risk of bronchopleural complications after pneumonectomy due to the use of intraoperative laser treatment of the stump of the main bronchus
Authors: Asoyan G. A. , Lepekha L. N. , Sadovnikova S. S. , Tarasov R. V. , Aliev V. K. , Bagirov M. A. 
Published: December 2022

Purpose of the study: due to the intraoperative technique of treating the stump of the main bronchus with a high-energy laser LSP-30 during pneumonectomy, to increase the effectiveness of the treatment of patients with destructive widespread pulmonary tuberculosis.

Materials and methods. The results of treatment of 112 patients were analyzed. All patients underwent lung removal due to widespread destructive tuberculosis. Patients were divided into main and control groups. The first group, the main one, consisted of 58 patients selected prospectively with a high risk of bronchopleural complications, of which 63.8% (n = 37) of patients had signs of hemoptysis and episodes of pulmonary hemorrhage, which required urgent and sometimes emergency surgical intervention. In 36.2% (n = 21) of patients, limited empyema of the pleural cavity without bronchopleural fistulas was determined radiographically. All patients of the main group after the stage of lung removal before the formation of a stump, the mucosa of the main bronchus was irradiated with a high-energy laser LSP-30 with a wavelength of 930 nm. 54 patients of the control group, selected retrospectively, in whom the course of the fibroticcavernous tuberculosis passed without complications and the HA stump after pneumonectomy was formed without the use of laser irradiation. There were no endoscopic signs of active tuberculous inflammation of the tracheobronchial tree in patients of both groups. A number of patients, in the main group in 5.2% (n = 3) and in the control group in 3.7% (n = 2), showed signs of scarring of the bronchus after tuberculosis. These patients, as part of preoperative preparation, underwent endoscopic biopsy of the main bronchus mucosa in the scar areas, and only after histological confirmation of the absence of active tuberculous inflammation, pneumonectomy was performed.

Results. Pronounced post-thoracotomy pain syndrome in 5.2% (n = 3) of patients in the main group and in 9.3% (n = 5) of patients in the control group, for the relief of which narcotic analgesics were used for a long time. Progression of respiratory insufficiency, as a result of accession of nonspecific pneumonia of the only lung in 5.2% (n = 3) of patients of the main group and in 7.4% (n = 4) of patients of the control group, which was resolved by additional resuscitation and avoided mortality. Formation of residual pleural cavity on days 7–21 of the postoperative period in 6.9% (n = 4) of patients in the main group and in 1.8% (n = 1) of patients in the control group in the apex of the hemithorax, which required several sessions of thoracocentesis for the complete elimination of residual pleural cavity. The formation of a pulmonary hernia and the displacement of the mediastinal organs towards fibrothorax, in 5.2% (n = 3) of patients in the main group and in 1.8% (n = 1) in patients of the control group, this complication is the main manifestation of postpneumonectomy syndrome. Progression of tuberculosis in the only lung in 5.2% (n = 3) of patients of the main group and 3.7% (n = 2) of patients in the control group. This complication was revealed radiographically, despite the anti-tuberculosis therapy carried out in the postoperative period in accordance with the sensitivity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, identified from the surgical material. Intrapleural bleeding in the early postoperative period was detected in 3.7% (n = 2) of patients in the control group, and no such cases were detected in the main group. All cases of intrapleural bleeding in the control group were urgently stopped.

Conclusions. The effectiveness of surgical treatment of patients with widespread destructive pulmonary tuberculosis in the volume of pneumonectomy using intraoperative laser treatment of the mucosa of the main bronchus was 98.3%, while in the control group, where the intraoperative technique was not used, it was significantly lower – 87.1% (p < 0.01). A high percentage of cases of histological detection of an inflammatory process on the resection line is a scientifically substantiated confirmation of the need for intraoperative laser treatment of the main bronchus mucosa by the proposed method in patients with widespread destructive tuberculosis during pneumonectomy.