Pulmonary Resection for Metachronous Lung Cancer Following Contralateral Pneumonectomy

Abstract

Patients who undergo pneumonectomy for lung cancer are at risk of recurrent disease and metachronous tumours in the remaining lung. Establishing a diagnosis can be difficult as biopsy may induce a pneumothorax, whilst resection is limited by remaining lung function. However, pneumonectomy should not be a contraindication to further lung resection. We report two cases of lung cancer resection in the residual lung 6 and 11 years following pneumonectomy respectively. A limited resection can be safely performed for a new pulmonary parenchymal lesion on a background of a previous pneumonectomy.