Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2003;24:826
© 2003 Elsevier Science NL
Images in cardio-thoracic surgery |
Multiple bilateral recurrent neurofibromas of the lungs
Charalambos Zisis*,
Apostolos Dountsis,
Jubrail Dahabreh
Department of Thoracic Surgery, Athens Medical Center, Athens, Greece
Received 12 June 2003;
received in revised form 29 June 2003;
accepted 6 August 2003.
* Corresponding author. 17A, Patriarchou Grigoriou Str, 166 74 Glyfada, Greece. Tel.: +30-2109651639; fax: +30-2106108740
e-mail: dkakats{at}cc.uoa.gr
Key Words: Neuro fibromas • Dyspnea • Thoracotomy
A 58-year-old man was admitted with severe dyspnea on mild exertion. Multiple masses in both lungs were revealed on thoracic X-ray (Fig. 1
a) and were confirmed on CT-scan (Fig. 1b). From the history of the patient, a bilateral resection of pulmonary neurofibromas 15 years ago was reported. VonReclinghausen disease did not exist. Re-thoracotomies were performed, first from the right side and 3 months later contralaterally. Five neurofibromas were removed from the right lung, all of them with enucleation (Fig. 2)
and three from the left lung, two of them with enucleation, and the other one with segmentectomy of the lingula. Postoperative course was uneventful, dyspnea was totally recessed, and the patient is doing well out of recurrence 2 years after the left thoracotomy.
