1987 Volume 9 Issue 2 Pages 136-141
The patient was an 81 year-old male and his Brinkmann index was over 600. His chief complaints were cough and bloody sputum. The chest roentgenogram revealed complete atelectasis of the right lung field. The bronchoscopic findings revealed a tumor completely obstructing the lumen of the right main bronchus. This patient was old and his general condition was poor because of hypoxia due to atelectasis. Therefore, we first aimed to relieve his atelectasis. Nd-YAG laser irradiation (total 14300 Jules) was performed under the fiberoptic bronchoscope. After Nd-YAG laser irradiation the chest roentgenogram revealed a few areas of aeration in the right lung field, and his general condition improved. However the tumor enlarged rapidly and small cell carcinoma was strongly suspected based on the results of pathological examination. Since it was thought that completely vaporization of the tumor was impossible ^<60>Co radiotherapy (total 50Gy) was performed. After the radiotherapy the tumor vanished and the atelectasis of the right lung was nearly completely disappeared. It was considered that Nd-YAG laser treatment was a useful treatment in cases of lung carcinoma with atelectasis due to a tumor growing in the lumen of large bronchi.
