The Korean Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery  1997;30(11):1149-1153

Re-Expansion Pulmonary Edema Associated with Resection of Ruptured Mediastinal Thymic Cyst: A Case Report.

Deog Gon CHO 1 ; Jong Ho LEE ; Moon Sub KWACK ; Se Wha KIM

Affiliations

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Keywords

Mediastinal neoplasm; Pulmonary edema, reexpansion; Empyema

Country

Republic of Korea

Language

Korean

Abstract

Unilateral reexpansion pulmonary edema(RPE) is generally considered a rare complication, occurring when a chronically atelectatic lung is rapidly reexpanded by tube thoracostomy or thoracentesis. It can also take place when the lung collapse is of short duration or when the lung is reexpanded without intrapleural suction. We experienced a case of RPE following surgical resection in mediastinal thymic cyst. A 26 year old female patient suffered from long-standing atelectasis of the right lung due to a huge mediastinal cyst that was misrecognized as tuberculous pleural effusion. Empyema developed after iatrogenic rupture of mediastinal cyst by pig-tailed tube thoracostomy. We successfully managed the ruptured mediastinal thymic cyst, empyema and postoperatively developed RPE following reexpansion of the collapsed lung. The patient was treated with drugs and mechanical ventilation with positive end-expiratory pressure for RPE. The remainder of her hospital course was uneventful.