CASE REPORTS  THORACIC PAPERS 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 2001 April;42(2):271-3

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Surgical management of solitary pulmonary nodules. An unexpected lucky case

Casali C., Stefani A., Paci M., Morandi U., Lodi R.

From the Department of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy

The ­case of a 63-year-­old wom­an ­with a solitary pulmonary nodule (­SPN) is report­ed. Surgical ­wedge resec­tion ­revealed an hamar­to­ma. Digital exam­ina­tion of ­the ­lung paren­chy­ma ­showed an unex­pect­ed (­not pre­vi­ous­ly vis­u­al­ized by tho­rac­ic imag­ing) sec­ond nod­ule ­that intra­op­er­a­tive fro­zen exam­ina­tion ­revealed an aden­o­car­cin­o­ma. The oper­a­tion ­was com­plet­ed ­with a ­right ­upper lobec­to­my ­and com­plete lym­phoa­de­nec­to­my. The authors recom­mend an ear­ly ­open sur­gi­cal pro­ce­dure ­for ­any SPNs ­with ­risk fac­tors ­for devel­op­ing ­lung can­cer.