Abstract
A seventy-three-year-old man had undergone right sleeve upper lobectomy. The bronchial anastomotic site occluded because of granulation that had been treated with yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) laser initially. He refused reopera tion or YAG laser surgery at the time of reocclusion of the anastomotic site. He complained of exertional dyspnea, and his blood gas analysis showed hypoxe mia. The authors injected sulfur hexafluoride into pleural space of the patient to reduce pulmonary shunt in chronically atelectatic lobes. Blood gas analysis just after injection of sulfur hexafluoride gas into pleural space showed increase of oxygen tension, suggesting decrease in shunting. With the management of pleu ral space through use of sulfur hexafluoride, he leads a normal daily life without exertional dyspnea.
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