Life-threatening complications related to minocycline pleurodesis.

For decades, chemical pleurodesis using minocycline has been widely accepted as an effective, safe, and cheap treatment for persistent air leak after pulmonary resection. We report a case with persistent postoperative air leak that suffered from cardiorespiratory arrest just after a minocycline pleurodesis, which may be related to the aspiration of minocycline solution from a bronchopleural fistula. Therefore, we suggest a bronchoscopic examination be performed before the pleurodesis if a bronchopleural fistula is highly suspected.