Hemorrhage in Tuberculosis as an Urgent Indication for Resection of Pulmonary Tissue

¹ Department of Thoracic Surgery, Postgraduate School of Medicine, Medical Academy (Warsaw), Director, The Sokolowski Sanatorium, (Zakopane)
² Department of Thoracic Surgery, Postgraduate School of Medicine, Medical Academy (Warsaw)

In the Department of Thoracic Surgery of the Postgraduate School of Medicine in Zakopane during the years 1954 to 1960 seven pneumonectomies and one segmentectomy were performed for hemorrhage in pulmonary tuberculosis. Five patients recovered without complications. Two cases were complicated by bronchial fistula and empyema, in one of which plastic surgery of the bronchial stump was successfully carried out. The other patient is being prepared for plastic operation on the stump. One patient died from amyloidosis two years after operation. The cases with complications concerned patients who previously had had thoracoplasty or extrapleural pneumothorax, with bacilli resistant to two major antimicrobial drugs, factors believed to be contributory to the occurrence of postoperative complications.