Occlusion with Bronchial Covered Stent in the Management of Bronchial Stump Fistula after Right Middle and Lower Lobectomy: A Case Report and Literature Review / 中国肺癌杂志

BACKGROUND@#Bronchopleural fistula (BPF) is one of the most serious and rare postoperative complications, especially the bronchial stump fistula after lobectomy/pneumonectomy. Common treatment options include conservative medical treatment combined with surgery. However, due to the delayed healing of the fistula, the chest cavity continues to communicate with the outside world, and the patient is prone to complicated with severe thoracic infection and respiratory failure, so that the physical condition can hardly tolerate the second surgical procedure. Endoscopic treatment provides a new option for the treatment of this complication.@*METHODS@#A case of right pulmonary squamous cell carcinoma was admitted to the Department of Thoracic Surgery II, Peking University Cancer Hospital in June 2016. The diagnosis and treatment was retrospectively analyzed, and the literature was reviewed.@*RESULTS@#A 65 year old male patient was admitted to hospital because of "cough with blood in sputum for 3 months". Chest computed tomography (CT) showed soft tissue density mass shadow in the right lower lobe. A tumor could be seen in the opening of the right middle lobe and basal segment of lower lobe. Biopsy confirmed squamous cell carcinoma. Diagnosis consideration: squamous cell carcinoma of the middle and lower lobe of the right lung (cT2aN2, IIIa). Patients received gemcitabine plus cisplatin neoadjuvant chemotherapy for 2 cycles, and the effect of chemotherapy showed stable disease (SD). Four weeks after chemotherapy, the patient underwent video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) assisted right middle and lower lobectomy and mediastinal lymph node dissection. On the 5th day after operation, the patient developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and was transferred to intensive care unit (ICU) again after endotracheal intubation. On the 7th day after operation, the patient developed a right intermediate trunk bronchial stump fistula, but due to ARDS, the patient's physical condition could not tolerate the second operation. Under the support of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), a membrane covered, expandable, hinged stent was inserted into the intermediate trunk bronchial stump through rigid bronchoscope, and was successfully blocked. Due to no improvement in ARDS and irreversible pulmonary interstitial fibrosis, the patient received double lung transplantation successfully after systemic anti-infection treatment.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Endoscopic implantation of covered stent is a simple, safe and effective method for closure of bronchial stump fistula. When the patient's clinical situation is not suitable for immediate surgery, endoscopic stent implantation can be used as a preferred treatment method to create opportunities for follow-up treatment.

Clinical Recommendations for Perioperative Immunotherapy-induced Adverse Events in Patients with Non-small Cell Lung Cancer / 中国肺癌杂志

BACKGROUND@#Perioperative treatment has become an increasingly important aspect of the management of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Small-scale clinical studies performed in recent years have shown improvements in the major pathological remission rate after neoadjuvant therapy, suggesting that it will soon become an important part of NSCLC treatment. Nevertheless, neoadjuvant immunotherapy may be accompanied by serious adverse reactions that lead to delay or cancelation of surgery, additional illness, and even death, and have therefore attracted much attention. The purpose of the clinical recommendations is to form a diagnosis and treatment plan suitable for the current domestic medical situation for the immune-related adverse event (irAE).@*METHODS@#This recommendation is composed of experts in thoracic surgery, oncologists, thoracic medicine and irAE related departments (gastroenterology, respirology, cardiology, infectious medicine, hematology, endocrinology, rheumatology, neurology, dermatology, emergency section) to jointly complete the formulation. Experts make full reference to the irAE guidelines, large-scale clinical research data published by thoracic surgery, and the clinical experience of domestic doctors and publicly published cases, and repeated discussions in multiple disciplines to form this recommendation for perioperative irAE.@*RESULTS@#This clinical recommendation covers the whole process of prevention, evaluation, examination, treatment and monitoring related to irAE, so as to guide the clinical work comprehensively and effectively.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Perioperative irAE management is an important part of immune perioperative treatment of lung cancer. With the continuous development of immune perioperative treatment, more research is needed in the future to optimize the diagnosis and treatment of perioperative irAE.

Occult mediastinal lymph node metastasis in FDG-PET/CT node-negative lung adenocarcinoma patients: Risk factors and histopathological study.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate predictive factors of occult mediastinal lymph node metastasis (MLNM) in preoperative 18 F-fluorodeoxy-glucose PET/CT node-negative lung adenocarcinoma patients. METHODS: We reviewed the clinical data and PET/CT parameters of 360 consecutive pulmonary adenocarcinoma patients who were scheduled to undergo anatomical pulmonary resection and systemic mediastinal node dissection. The nodal metastasis was pathologically defined and all resected tumors were classified according to the 2011 IASLC/ATS/ERS classification. Univariate and multivariate analysis were conducted to evaluate the associations between clinicopathological variables and MLNM. RESULTS: Of all 360 patients, 54 (15.0%) had pathological N2 diseases. The serum CEA level, nodule type, hilar nodal SUVmax, tumor SUVmax, size, location and histologic subtype were associated with MLNM significantly on univariate analysis. On multivariate analysis, CEA ≥ 5.0 ng/mL (P < 0.001), solid nodule (P = 0.012), tumor SUVmax ≥ 3.7 (P < 0.027), hilar nodal SUVmax ≥ 2.0 (P < 0.001) and centrally located tumor (P = 0.035) were independent risk factors for MLNM. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) for tumor SUVmax and hilar nodal SUVmax in predicting MLNM was 0.764 and 0.730, respectively, and the combined use of five factors yielded a higher AUC of 0.885. CONCLUSION: Increased primary tumor and hilar lymph node SUVmax, solid nodule, centrally located tumor and increased CEA level predicted the increased risk of mediastinal lymph node metastasis. Combined use of these factors improved the diagnostic capacity for predicting N2 disease preoperatively. Invasive mediastinal staging should be considered for patients with these risk factors, even those with a negative mediastinum on PET/CT.

Correlation between Lymph Node Ratio and Clinicopathological Features and Prognosis of IIIa-N2 Non-small Cell Lung Cancer / 中国肺癌杂志

BACKGROUND@#IIIa-N2 non-small cell lung cancer was significant different in survival, although N stage of lung cancer based on anatomic location of metastasis lymph node. Lymph node ratio considered of prognostic factor might be the evaluation index for IIIa-N2 non-small cell lung cancer prognosis. Therefore, the aim of the study was to evaluate the correlation between lymph node ratio and clinicopathological features and prognosis of IIIa-N2 non-small cell lung cancer prognosis.@*METHODS@#A total of 288 cases of pathological IIIa-N2 non-small cell lung cancer were enrolled who received radical resection at the Department of Thoracic Surgery II, Peking University Cancer Hospital from January 2006 to December 2016. The univariate analysis between clinicopathological variables and lymph node ratio used Pearson's chi-squared test. Cox regression was conducted to identify the independent prognosis factors for IIIa-N2 non-small cell lung cancer.@*RESULTS@#There were 139 cases in the lower lymph node ratio group, another 149 cases in the higher lymph node ratio group. Adenocarcinoma (χ²=5.924, P=0.015), highest mediastinal lymph node metastasis (χ²=46.136, P<0.001), multiple-number N2 metastasis (χ²=59.347, P<0.001), multiple-station N2 metastasis (χ²=77.387, P<0.001) and skip N2 lymph node metastasis (χ²=61.524, P<0.001) significantly impacted lymph node ratio. The total number of lymph node dissection was not correlated with the lymph node ratio (χ²=0.537, P=0.464). Cox regression analysis confirmed that adenocarcinoma (P=0.008), multiple-number N2 metastasis (P=0.025) and lymph node ratio (P=0.001) were the independent prognosis factors of disease free survival. The 5-year disease free survival was 18.1% in the higher lymph node ratio group, and 44.1% in the lower. Lymph node ratio was the independent prognosis factor of overall survival (P<0.001). The 5-year overall survival was 36.7% in the higher lymph node ratio group, and 64.1% in the lower.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Lymph node ratio was correlative with the pathology, highest mediastinal lymph node metastasis, multiple-number N2 metastasis, multiple-station N2 metastasis and skip N2 lymph node metastasis. Lymph node ratio was the independent prognosis factor for IIIa-N2 non-small cell lung cancer.