Long-term Placement of an Endobronchial Watanabe Spigot for Over Six Years

Abstract

Background. Bronchial occlusion with endobronchial Watanabe spigots (EWSs) has been known to be useful for intractable pneumothorax, empyema with bronchopleural fistula, or hemoptysis. In general, it has been recommended that EWSs should be removed within several months after insertion. There have been only a few reports of a long-term placement of EWSs. Case. A 46-year-old woman underwent thymothymectomy and left pulmonary lingula segmentectomy for invasive thymoma at the age of 24. Since intrathoracic recurrence was found 16 years later, she underwent resection of the recurrent tumors with preoperative induction chemotherapy. Postoperative air leakage continued and we failed to surgically close the fistula. Therefore, we used three EWSs to occlude the left superior bronchus and the air leakage was successfully eliminated. Thereafter, those EWSs have been placed for over six years without significant complications. Conclusion. EWSs can be placed for a long-term with careful follow-up.