Abstract
During the past ten years, we have performed combined resections of the lung and the heart or a great vessel in eleven patients with advanced lung carcinoma. In four of the nine, cardiopulmonary bypass was used. Three underwent right pneumonectomy with partial resection of the left atrium; in one, the right atrium was resected partially because of carcinomatous invasion to the atrial septum. One underwent left lobectomy with partial resection of the aorta. A 71-year-old patient had a cardiac infarction during the operation and multiple brain infarctions after the operation. He died 57 days after surgery. Of the other three, two are alive and one died of brain metastasis 11 months after surgery. The clinical findings of the four patients are described, and the indications for cardiopulmonary bypass in extended operations for lung carcinoma are discussed.
