Video-assisted thoracic surgery for left lung cancer in a patient with a right aortic arch

• Published in: General thoracic and cardiovascular surgery Vol. 56; no. 5; pp. 239 - 241
• Main Authors: Nakamura, Hiroshige, Miwa, Ken, Adachi, Yoshin, Fujioka, Shinji, Haruki, Tomohiro, Taniguchi, Yuji
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Springer Japan 01.05.2008; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Adenocarcinoma - diagnostic imaging; Adenocarcinoma - surgery; Aged; Aorta, Thoracic - abnormalities; Aorta, Thoracic - diagnostic imaging; Cardiac Surgery; Cardiology; Case Report; Female; Humans; Lung cancer; Lung Neoplasms - diagnostic imaging; Lung Neoplasms - surgery; Lymph Node Excision - adverse effects; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Pneumonectomy - adverse effects; Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve - pathology; Subclavian Artery - abnormalities; Surgical Oncology; Thoracic Surgery; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted - adverse effects; Tomography, X-Ray Computed; Treatment Outcome; Vocal Cord Paralysis - etiology; Vocal Cord Paralysis - prevention & control; Right aortic arch; Left lung cancer; Video-assisted thoracic surgery; Recurrent laryngeal nerve
• ISSN: 1863-6705; 1863-6713
• DOI: 10.1007/s11748-008-0229-8

We report a rare case of left lung cancer in a patient with a right aortic arch. A 65-year-old woman was diagnosed to have an adenocarcinoma in the left upper lobe (S3) in addition to a right aortic arch (type II), with the left subclavian artery originating from the descending aorta. Left upper lobectomy and lymph node dissection was performed by video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). For the mediastinal dissection, the upper mediastinal lymph nodes were easily resected after verifying the location of the arterial ligament and the recurrent laryngeal nerve (RLN). This is the first report of using VATS to remove a lung cancer from a patient with a right aortic arch.