Pregnancy following major thoracic surgery for tuberculosis

Abstract

Over a period of 95 months, Jan. 1, 1945, to and including Nov. 30, 1952, there were 25 women who became pregnant 37 times during or subsequent to major thoracic surgery employed to control extensive unilateral pulmonary tuberculosis. The three major chest surgical procedures considered in correlation with pregnancy included lobectomy in 2 cases, pneumonectomy in 14 cases, and three-stage thoracoplasty in 9 women. This series is compared to 119 cases of thoracoplasty and 8 cases of lobectomy or pneumonectomy during or prior to thoracoplasty and 8 cases of lobectomy or pneumonectomy during or prior to pregnancy derived from the literature.There were 4 maternal deaths in our series, 16 per cent. Among the 37 progeny there were 10 infants lost through abortion, spontaneous on 2 occasions, therapeutic in 5 instances, one stillbirth following rupture of the uterus, and 2 infant deaths; one infant died of prematurity at 3 days and one 19-month-old infant died of tuberculous meningitis. Among the 21 surviving mothers only one exhibits tuberculous activity after pregnancy following or concurrent with major chest surgery.These figures compare favorably with those collected from the literature.