1996 Volume 10 Issue 2 Pages 175-181
A 75-year-old female, who had undergone right lower lobectomy for stage I lung cancer 2 years before, developed tracheal cancer. Although the histological type was the same as the lung cancer (squamous cell carcinoma), we clinically diagnosed the tracheal tumor as a primary cancer.
The tumor was located 3 cm above the carina and extended 3.5 cm in length in the cranial direction. Because the pleural adhesion due to the previous operation was presumed, median sternotomy with a neck collar incision was employed instead of right thoracotomy. Montgomery's suprahyoid release was added to peritracheal dissection. Tracheal resection of 8 cartilage rings and end-to-end anastomosis were performed and omentopexy around the anastomotic site was added.
Although the patient died 9 months after the operation, probably due to local recurrence, tracheoplasty with resection of 8 cartilage rings was feasible for this patient with previous right lower lobectomy by utilizing the median sternotomy approach with suprahyoid release.
