Abstract
A man in his 50s was admitted to our hospital with a diagnosis of pulmonary adenocarcinoma of the left upper lobe. Chest computed tomography (CT) showed a mass of 39 mm in diameter in the left upper lobe. He underwent a thoracoscopic left upper lobectomy with systematic lymph node dissection. Cerebral infarction developed 8 days after surgery. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed an infarction of the right middle cerebral artery area. Contrast-enhanced CT (CECT) showed a thrombus in the stump of the left upper pulmonary vein. Anticoagulant therapy using intravenous heparin followed by oral warfarin sodium was started immediately. The patient has been undergoing rehabilitation for left hemiplegia. Pulmonary vein thrombosis after a pulmonary lobectomy is rarely reported, but it has the potential to cause a lethal complication. Therefore, we recommend CECT for patients in the early postoperative period after a left upper lobectomy to detect any pulmonary vein stump thrombus as early as possible.
