The benefits of avoiding open thoracotomy
Pulmonary sequestration is a congenital anomaly of the lungs that consists of abnormal lung tissue with blood supply from the descending aorta. The most common symptom is recurrent infections.
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Due to repeated infections and difficulty in controlling large blood vessels, surgery is typically performed through thoracotomy. But in this two-minute captioned intraoperative video, Cleveland Clinic thoracic surgeon Usman Ahmad, MD, shares how he partnered with cardiac surgeon Shinya Unai, MD, to remove a sequestration robotically. An intra-aortic balloon was placed to control a very large branch of the descending aorta that supplied the sequestration, allowing for safe control of the vessel robotically.
Despite the complexity of this case, the patient was discharged home four days after surgery and was back to work soon thereafter. If he had undergone open thoracotomy, his recovery would have extended over months.
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