Left carinal pneumonectomy through median sternotomy: Surgical experience of two patients

Abstract

Endobronchial tumors infiltrating the carina is a formidable challenge to surgeons in view of difficult surgical access to the carina, especially on the left side, problems of securing the airway intra-operatively, technically challenging anastomosis due to anatomical location, and high post-operative morbidity and mortality. We present our surgical experience of two cases of left carinal pneumonectomy which was undertaken for resectable primary salivary gland type tumors of lung.

Keywords

• Lung neoplasms
• pneumonectomy
• sternotomy
• thoracotomy
• trachea