New technique for pulmonary artery reconstruction.

Bronchial and vascular reconstructive procedures are a technically feasible alternative to pneumonectomy in lung cancer and have the advantage of preserving lung parenchyma function. Sleeve resection and prosthetic reconstruction of the pulmonary artery (PA) have progressively gained acceptance as an alternative to pneumonectomy in lung cancer surgery. To spare the lung parenchyma, angioplastic procedures involving removal of a portion of the arterial wall or a circumferential resection with arterial reconstruction have been used. Several techniques of pulmonary arterioplasty have been documented, such as patch reconstruction, end-to-end anastomosis, synthetic prosthesis, biological prosthesis, prosthetic or pericardial conduit. We present the first case reported in the literature of PA reconstruction with a pulmonary vein graft.