A surgical case of lung cancer in the right upper lobe with two superior lobar bronchi branching from the right main bronchus

Abstract

Anomalies of the bronchi are rarely encountered in thoracic surgery. Among these anomalies, a tracheal bronchus is found relatively more frequently as an anomaly of the superior lobar bronchus, while cases of multiple superior lobar bronchi branching from the right main bronchus are quite rare. Here, we report a surgical case of lung cancer in the right upper lobe with such an anomaly of the superior lobar bronchus.

A 66-year-old woman was followed-up for an abnormal chest radiograph. A nodule in her right upper lobe was detected by computed tomography (CT). She was admitted to our hospital, where she underwent open surgical lung biopsy. She received an intraoperative rapid diagnosis of adenocarcinoma; an immediate right upper lobectomy and lymphadenectomy were performed. There were two superior lobar bronchi branching from this patient's right main bronchus; we resected them separately.

Anomalies of the bronchi are rare but do exist. Therefore, thorough investigation of individual anatomy before surgery is important.