Surgery for recurrent pneumothorax following bronchiolitis obliterans in a patient with chronic graft-versus-host disease after bone marrow transplantation

Abstract

A 40-year-old man, diagnosed as acute myelogenic leukemia underwent a HLA-identical sibling peripheral blood stem cell transplant following an off treatment relapse. He subsequently developed chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and bronchiolitis obliterans caused recurrent pneumothorax. In order to control the recurrent medical-treatment-resistant pneumothorax, four surgeries (three left, one right) were necessary. It was thought important to reinforce the whole visceral pleura by covering it with an absorbable material sheet and fibrin glue in surgical treatment for recurrent pneumothorax.