• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.50 no.5
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• pp.329-338
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• 2017

Background: The clinical value of 3-field lymph node dissection (3FLND) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains controversial. This study aimed to identify the patterns and prognostic significance of cervical lymph node metastasis (CLNM) in ESCC. Methods: A retrospective review of 77 patients with E SCC who underwent esophagectomy and 3FLND between 2002 and 2016 was conducted. For each cervical node level, the efficacy index (EI), overall survival, recurrence rate, and complication rate were compared. Results: CLNM was identified in 34 patients (44.2%) who underwent 3FLND. Patients with CLNM had a significantly lower overall survival rate (22.7% vs. 58.2%) and a higher recurrence rate (45.9% vs. 16.3%) than patients without CLNM. CLNM was an independent predictor of recurrence in ESCC patients. Moreover, in patients with pathologic N3 tumors, the odds ratio of CLNM was 10.8 (95% confidence interval, 2.0 to 57.5; p=0.005). Level IV dissection had the highest EI, and level IV metastasis was significantly correlated with overall survival (p=0.012) and recurrence (p=0.001). Conclusion: CLNM was a significant prognostic factor for ESCC patients and was more common among patients with advanced nodal stages. Level IV exhibited the highest risk of metastasis, and dissection at level IV may be crucial when performing 3FLND, especially in advanced nodal stage disease.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.10 s.255
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• pp.729-732
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• 2005

A 15-year-old male was admitted with right-sided chest pain and cough for one month. On chest computed tomographic scan, a $10\times15\times16$ em-sized huge mediastinal mass was occupied in the right hemithorax. Radiologically, it seemed that the tumor was severely adhesive on the heart and the superior vena cava. Therefore we decided on chemotherapy and radiotherapy first instead of surgery. The tumor marker was nearly normalized afterwards, but the tumor size was seemed to be bigger on chest tomographic scan. This suggests the growing teratoma syndrome. After the successful resection, he showed symptomatic improvement and is being followed up without any symptoms in an out patient department up to now.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.36 no.12
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• pp.991-994
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• 2003

Primary leiomyosarcomas are rare tumors of the lungs. No typical roentgenographic findings of unusual complex of symptoms distinguish this tumor. The most common therapy is surgical resection. Prognosis and significant survivorship are related to the size, grade, metastasis of the lesion. A 25-year-old female patient with chest pain and cough was admitted. In chest X-ray and CT scan, there was a pulmonary nodule in left upper lung field, She was taken a percutaneous needle aspiration biopsy. The result was a spindle cell tumor. Left upper lobe lobectomy was done, and pathologic diagnosis was a low grade leiomyosarcoma arising from left bronchus. During 5 years of follow-up period, she has not shown any metastasis or local recurrence.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.388-391
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• 2009

Well-differentiated fetal adenocarcinoma (WDFA) of the lung is a rare lung tumor that's composed of glycogen rich neoplastic glands and tubules that resemble the fetal lung at 10 to 15 weeks of gestation. Although WDFA is classified as a subtype of pulmonary blastoma or pulmonary adenocarcinoma, its prognosis is better than conventional pulmonary blastoma (biphasic blastoma) or pulmonary adenocarcinoma. It is important to identify this low grade malignancy tumor in younger patients because it is associated with low mortality. We report here on 3 cases of WDFA and the patients are all currently alive without tumor recurrence.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.392-395
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• 2009

Adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) commonly originates in the major salivary glands and respiratory tract, but it is extremely rare to find ACC in the esophagus. ACC of the esophagus is clinopathologically different from the salivary gland variant. It shows more aggressive malignant behavior and a very poor prognosis. We report here on the surgical and clinopathologic findings of ACC of the esophagus in a 65-year-old man, and we also include a review of the relevant medical literature.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.350-355
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• 2018

Background: The complication rate of fungal disease is higher among patients with hematological malignancies. We investigated the clinicobacteriological outcomes of resected pulmonary fungal infections complicating hematological malignancies. Methods: Between 2001 and 2017, 21 patients with pulmonary fungal infections complicating hematological malignancies underwent resection, and their clinical records and survival were retrospectively reviewed. Results: The median age of the patients was 47 years, and 13 were male. The histological diagnoses were pulmonary aspergillosis (19 cases), mucormycosis (1 case), and cryptococcosis (1 case). The indications for surgery were resistance to antifungal therapy and the necessity of surgery before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in 13 and 8 cases, respectively. The diagnoses of the hematological malignancies were acute myelogenous leukemia (10 cases), acute lymphocytic leukemia (5 cases), myelodysplastic syndrome (3 cases), and chronic myelogenous leukemia, malignant lymphoma, and extramedullary plasmacytoma (1 case each). The surgical procedures were partial resection (11 cases), segmentectomy (5 cases), lobectomy (4 cases), and cavernostomy (1 case). The size of the lesions was 0.9-8.5 cm. Fourteen cases had cavitation. There were no surgical-related deaths or fungal progression. Conclusion: Pulmonary fungal infections are resistant to treatments for hematological malignancies. Since the treatment of the underlying disease is extended and these infections often recur and are exacerbated, surgery should be considered when possible.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.38 no.1 s.246
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• pp.76-79
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• 2005

The coexistence of mesenchymal tumor and carcinoma in the esophagus is extremely rare. We report a case of squamous cell carcinoma located at the mucosal surface over leiomyoma of the esophagus. A 76-year-old man with complaints of 3 months onset of odynophagia was diagnosed preoperatively as squamous cell carcinoma over submucosal tumor with calcification. Esophagectomy and esophagogastrostomy were performed through the right thoracotomy and upper median laparotomy. The patient is doing well without evidence of recurrence in the 25 months after resection. We discuss the pathogenesis and possible relations between the two tumors.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.127-130
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• 2009

Primary leiomyosarcoma of the mediastinum is an extremely rare tumor that develops either in the mesenchymal cells of the visceral mediastinum or in the smooth muscle of the great vessels. In the literature, the most significant factor for determining survival is the ability to completely resect the tumor. But there is 30~64% recurrence rate and there is also a lack of data for the role of adjuvant therapy after complete resection. We report here on a case of recurred leiomyosarcoma of the mediastinum that was surgically removed via left thoracotomy 2 years previously and this was misdiagmosed as benign disease.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.195-198
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• 2016

We report a 72-year-old male with known myelodysplastic syndrome who presented to the emergency department with a 7-day history of fever and dyspnea. Echocardiography revealed a round echogenic mass $13{\times}16mm$ in size attached to the atrial side of the tricuspid valve. Considering the high risk of infective endocarditis in the patient with a low absolute neutrophil count ($130/mm^3$), emergency surgery was performed. Intraoperatively, a single gelatinous neoplasm was resected, and subsequent reconstruction of the involved leaflet was accomplished using autologous pericardium. The tumor was pathologically confirmed as papillary fibroelastoma with no evidence of infective endocarditis. Papillary fibroelastoma is a rare cardiac neoplasm that occurs in either the mitral or aortic valves. Interestingly, a few cases of tricuspid valve papillary fibroelastoma have been reported so far. Similar echocardiographic findings between vegetation and tricuspid valve neoplasm make it difficult to distinguish these two disease entities.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.114-120
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• 2020

Background: Evidence is lacking on whether the resection of lung parenchymal cancer improves the survival of patients with unexpected pleural metastasis encountered during surgery. We conducted a single-center retrospective study to determine the role of lung resection in the long-term survival of these patients. Methods: Among 4683 patients who underwent lung surgery between 1995 and 2014, 132 (2.8%) had pleural metastasis. After excluding 2 patients who had incomplete medical records, 130 patients' data were collected. Only a diagnostic pleural and/or lung biopsy was performed in 90 patients, while the lung parenchymal mass was resected in 40 patients. Results: The mean follow-up duration was 29.8 months. The 5-year survival rate of the resection group (34.7%±9.4%) was superior to that of the biopsy group (15.9%±4.3%, p=0.016). Multivariate Cox regression analysis demonstrated that primary tumor resection (p=0.041), systemic treatment (p<0.001), lower clinical N stage (p=0.018), and adenocarcinoma histology (p=0.009) were significant predictors of a favorable outcome. Interestingly, primary tumor resection only played a significant prognostic role in patients who received systemic treatment. Conclusion: When pleural metastasis is unexpectedly encountered during surgical exploration, resection in conjunction with systemic treatment may improve long-term survival, especially in adenocarcinoma patients without lymph node metastasis.