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Lung India : Official Organ of Indian Chest Society logoLink to Lung India : Official Organ of Indian Chest Society
letter
. 2022 Dec 29;40(1):95–96. doi: 10.4103/lungindia.lungindia_444_22

Surgical treatment of pulmonary bullous diseases

Hiroaki Satoh 1, Kesato Iguchi 2, Ryota Nakamura 3
PMCID: PMC9894282  PMID: 36695271

Sir,

We read with interest, the article by Rastin et al. published in the September-October 2022 issue of Lung India on the results of the surgical treatment of pulmonary bleb and bullous disease.[1] We have also been interested in the treatment of bullous diseases.[2-5] After discussion of treatment options, we also performed surgical resection of two young patients with recurrently infected bullae. We paid attention to indications for resection and preoperative infection control but as a result there was no recurrence. One of them had an uneventful 6 years postoperatively, during which time she gave birth to three children. With this background, we ask the authors following the three questions. First, we would like to ask about indications for surgical resection in bulla patients with pneumonia. Especially in young patients, there is a concern that resection might reduce respiratory function. It is also necessary to pay attention to postoperative infection control. Should recurrent episodes of infection or hemoptysis be considered indications? Second, the authors reported multiple bullae in 19 (27.1%) patients and those with pneumonia complications in 24 (34.3%) patients. The authors emphasized the importance of intraoperative complete drainage if the fluid retention within the bulla. Please, let us know if there are any points that should be especially noted as preoperative measures for such patients. Third, it would be beneficial to know whether there were any patients with recurrent development of bullae after surgery. Please, let us know whether there were any patients in particular have recurrences of infected bullae.

Declaration of patient consent

The authors certify that appropriate patient consent was obtained.

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

REFERENCES

  • 1.Rastin HA, Manouchehr A, Raji LM, Rastin HA, Manouchehr A, Raji LM, et al. Results of the surgical treatment of pulmonary bleb and bullous disease: A retrospective study. Lung India. 2022;39:455–9. doi: 10.4103/lungindia.lungindia_735_21. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
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