Case report
Video-assisted thoracoscopic left lower lobectomy in a patient with lung cancer and a right aortic arch
1 Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, North 15, West 7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-8638, Japan
2 Department of Gastroenterology Surgery II, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Sapporo, Japan
Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery 2012, 7:120 doi:10.1186/1749-8090-7-120
Published: 13 November 2012Abstract
A right aortic arch is a rare congenital anomaly, with a reported incidence of around 0.1%. A patient with a right aortic arch underwent video-assisted thoracic surgery left lower lobectomy and mediastinal lymph node dissection for squamous cell carcinoma. There was no aortic arch or descending aorta in the left thoracic cavity, but the esophagus. There was no anomaly in the location or branching of the pulmonary vessels, the bronchi, and the lobulation of the lungs. The vagus nerve was found at the level of the left pulmonary artery. The arterial ligament was found between the left subclavian artery and the left pulmonary artery. The recurrent laryngeal nerve was recurrent around the left subclavian artery. A Kommerell diverticulum was found at the origin of the left subclavian artery. The patient experienced no complications. We conclude that video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy with mediastinal dissection is feasible for treating lung cancer with a right aortic arch.
