Intercostal muscle flap for repair of bronchopleural fistula

Abstract

A 50-year-old male patient, a known case of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), presented with the features of bronchopleural fistula (BPF) on the right side for 1 month. The patient was a chronic smoker and did not give any history suggestive of pulmonary Koch′s. The patient had sudden-onset breathlessness and chest pain 1 month before, which was diagnosed to be due to spontaneous pneumothorax. An intercostal drain was inserted but even after 1 month of all conservative measures, the lung remained collapsed and there was large air leak in the intercostal drain. Computed tomogram (CT) of the chest revealed collapsed and entrapped lung with surgical emphysema of the subcutaneous tissues due to rupture of the emphysematous bulla on the right side along with the presence of emphysematous bullae on the left upper lobe also. Surgical intervention in the form of decortication of entrapped lung and repair of the BPF with intercostal muscle flap was performed. The patient recovered well and was discharged after 10 days.

Keywords

• Bronchopleural fistula
• empyema
• entrapped lung
• intercostal muscle flap