Thoracoscopic repair of lung herniation following minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery.

Abstract

Pulmonary hernias--defined as protrusions of the lung parenchyma and pleural membranes through a defect in the thoracic wall--are rare. They are usually congenital, spontaneous or traumatic iatrogenic lung herniations are extremely rare and secondary to thoracoscopic procedures or minimally invasive cardiothoracic surgery. There are very few reports of surgical repair of this iatrogenic condition and, to date, no reports of thoracoscopic repair of such defects of the thoracic wall have been reported. We present a case of a young patient with iatrogenic lung herniation in which a thoracoscopic approach was attempted and complete repair successfully accomplished.