Pneumonectomy

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Pneumonectomy
Intervention

Appearance of the cut surface of a pneumonectomy specimen

containing lung cancer, here a squamous cell carcinoma (the whitish
tumor near the bronchi).

ICD-9-CM

32.5

MeSH

D011013

[edit on Wikidata]

A pneumonectomy (or pneumectomy) is a surgical procedure to remove a lung. Removal of just

one lobe of the lung is specifically referred to as a lobectomy, and that of a segment of the lung as
a wedge resection (or segmentectomy).

Contents
[hide]

1Indications

2Types

3History
3.1Pioneering dates

4See also

5References

6External links

Indications[edit]

An chest x-ray of a person who has had their right lung removed

The most common reason for a pneumonectomy is to remove tumourous tissue arising from lung
cancer. In the days prior to the use of antibiotics in tuberculosis treatment, tuberculosis was
sometimes treated surgically by pneumonectomy.
The operation will reduce the respiratory capacity of the patient; before conducting a
pneumonectomy, the surgeon will evaluate the ability of the patient to function after the lung tissue is
removed. After the operation, patients are often given an incentive spirometerto help exercise their
remaining lung and to improve breathing function.
A rib or two is sometimes removed to allow the surgeon better access to the lung.

Types[edit]

Diagram showing the parts removed in a pneumonectomy

There are two types of pneumonectomy:

1. Simple pneumonectomy: removal of just the affected lung
2. Extrapleural pneumonectomy (EPP): removal of the affected lung, plus part of the
diaphragm, the parietal pleura (lining of the chest) and the pericardium (lining of the heart)
on that side.[1] The linings are replaced by Gore-Tex in this radical and painful surgery that is
used primarily for treatment of malignant mesothelioma.

History[edit]
Pioneering dates[edit]

1895: first pneumonectomy in multiple stages by William Macewen on a patient with

tuberculosis and emphysema

1912: first anatomical dissection lobectomy by Hugh Morriston Davies [2]

1918: first successful lobectomy, by Harold Brunn[3]

1931: first successful pneumonectomy in two stages by Rudolph Nissen on a patient with
crush injury to the thorax

1933: first successful single-stage total pneumonectomy by Graham and Singer[4]

1939: first segmentectomy, by Churchill and Belsey[5]