2018 Volume 32 Issue 4 Pages 533-539
In cases of surgery for a mediastinal tumor invading the superior vena cava (SVC), SVC reconstruction is sometimes needed including the replacement of artificial blood vessels. We encountered a successfully resected case of a mediastinal tumor invading SVC, involving the placement of a temporal internal shunt. A 46-year-old man was referred to our hospital because of a mediastinal tumor detected on computed tomography (CT), which invaded the junction of the left brachiocephalic vein to SVC. A percutaneous biopsy failed to confirm the pathological diagnosis, and surgical resection was performed with median sternotomy. A venous cannula with side holes opened was inserted from the right atrial appendage up to the right brachiocephalic vein with its tip beyond the invasion and the vein was occluded with the vessel loop maintaining blood flow. The mediastinal tumor was resected en bloc with the invaded vein wall, and the defect of the SVC was repaired using a pericardial patch. The final pathological diagnosis was seminoma. We report the case along with technical considerations.
