Anatomical resection of lung cancer with isolated left bronchial isomerism: a case report with long-term follow-up.

Abstract

An isolated bronchial isomerism without accompanying malformations is known to be very rare and has little clinical problems. There are a few case reports demonstrating that the bronchial isomerism is incidentally found during lung cancer evaluations or surgeries, but none of them have reported the long-term outcomes after lung cancer surgeries. Thoracic surgeons should fully identify the anatomical details of the bronchial isomerism preoperatively to avoid unexpected resection of the wrong bronchi or pulmonary vessels. Herein, we report a rare case of an isolated left bronchial isomerism that was diagnosed preoperatively; the patient safely underwent anatomical pulmonary resection due to lung cancer in the right upper lobe and who has been followed up for >5years.