A middle lobe tractotomy of the lung for a stab injury: report of a survival case.

We report the case of a patient who survived after a pulmonary tractotomy. A 54-year-old man was stabbed in the back with a knife and was admitted to our emergency department. Imaging findings showed that there was hemopneumothorax of the right lung. After inserting a chest tube, a massive air leakage from the chest drain continued, and a serial chest roentgenogram showed progressive lung collapse. The patient therefore underwent an emergency thoracotomy. It was found that the wound penetrated through a middle lobe to the surface of an upper lobe of the right lung. A right middle lobe tractotomy was performed, and the patient's postoperative course was uneventful. Selected patients can be rescued without resection of a massive amount of lung tissue.