Thoracoscopic right apical segmentectomy for lung cancer with tracheal bronchus and variable pulmonary vein: a case report and literature review

Abstract

A 51-year-old woman visited our hospital with a chief complaint of an abnormal chest shadow in the right lung detected during a routine annual check-up. Chest computed tomography showed a 14-mm ground-glass opacity in the right upper lobe, suspicious for lung cancer. At the same time, a tracheal bronchus originating directly from the trachea was observed. In addition to the tracheal bronchus, a pulmonary vein variation running dorsal to the pulmonary artery was detected. She underwent thoracoscopic apical segmentectomy and mediastinal lymph node sampling. Her postoperative course was uneventful. Tracheal bronchus is a rare anomaly, with an incidence of 0.1% to 2%. However, tracheal bronchus is often accompanied by pulmonary vessel variations, and care should thus be taken when performing thoracoscopic lung resection.