Transsternal approach to closure of bronchopleural fistulas after pneumonectomy. A fifteen cases report.

A treatment method for main bronchus fistula after pneumonectomy via median sternotomy was described by P. Abruzzini in 1961. This operation is performed in an area not involved with infection. Fifteen patients underwent the procedure in our surgical department; one of them died of myocardial infarction while all the others survived for different periods of time, closely associated with the original disease; seven were long-term survivors. The transmediastinal approach seems an effective means of managing such a difficult complication.