Introduction: Intrathoracic negative pressure therapy is an adjunct to standard methods of complex empyema management in debilitated patients. Nevertheless, the use of endoscopic one-way endobronchial valves to successfully close large bronchopleural fistulas in patients with advanced pleural empyema has been described in only a few case reports. Aim: To present our experience in managing complex pleural empyema using thoracostomy with intrathoracic negative pressure therapy and/or endobronchial valve implantation. Material and methods: We retrospectively analyzed data from 13 consecutive patients (11 men, mean age: 56 years, range: 38-80 years) who were treated for pleural empyema using thoracostomy with intrathoracic negative pressure therapy and/or endobronchial valve implantation between October 2015 and November 2017. Results: The control of empyema was satisfactory in 12 patients; however, one patient died from sepsis-related multiorgan failure despite complete cessation of air leak on day 9 after endobronchial valve implantation. The overall success rate for the final closure of the chest wall was 9/12 patients (75%): in 5 patients, the wall closed spontaneously, and in 4, the wall was closed using thoracomyoplasty. Conclusions: Thoracostomy with intrathoracic negative pressure therapy, endobronchial valve implantation with tube drainage, and a combination of the two could adequately manage patients with pleural empyema with or without a persistent air leakage fistula.

Introduction: Esophageal perforation has been considered a catastrophic and often life-threatening event.Aim of the research: To show the results and difficulties in the management of esophageal perforation based on the experience of our department of thoracic surgery as well as data obtained from other hospitals. Material and methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of the management of 103 patients (mean age: 49.4 ±3.1) treated during the period of 1997-2011. Open surgery historical control group (94 patients) was compared with patients (9 cases) who had undergone video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery nonresection procedure in our hospital. Results: Data analysis has revealed that 32 (31%) of all patients were not recognized as a "thoracic esophageal injury" at the first examination. Despite the fact that more than 80% of patients were hospitalized on the first day, in 42 cases (40.8%), surgical treatment was applied after 24 h (52.1 ±7.8). Sixty-percent patients of control group were complicated by postoperative morbidity resulted in higher (p < 0.05) mortality rate (35.1%) and hospital stay time (41.2 ±6.1 days), then VATS management of patients who had 11.1% postoperative mortality and 26.5 ±5.6 days of hospital stay. Conclusions: Esophageal perforations are rare pathology and due to the rarity of this condition and its often nonspecific presentation, the surgical treatment of it is delayed in more than 40% of patients, which leads to death of every third patient. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery with adequate drain perforation has had advantages in comparison with standard open surgical techniques in treatment of patients with delayed perforation and severe inflammatory reaction.

Introduction: Renal transplantation has progressively increased, and it is the best management of end-stage renal disease. Aim of the research: To evaluate the outcome of renal transplantation from deceased donors to adults living in a region with a population of about one and a half million. Material and methods: A retrospective analysis of the outcomes of 126 recipients of allografts in the period 2011-2014 was performed. The mean age of the recipients was 44.5 ±13.4 years; 71 were male and 55 were female. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to assess the graft and recipient survival rates. Results: The overall mortality rate in our study was 4.7% (6 patients), and the mortality of patients with a functioning kidney graft was 3.9% (5 patients). All of them died due to multiple organ failure caused by septic complications of different aetiologies. The data of in our study show that 1-year and 3-year cumulative patient survival after transplantation was 96% and 93.5%, respectively, and the survival rate of kidney grafts was 93% and 68%, respectively. Mean time spent on the renal transplant waiting list had been 31.6 ±7.9 years before the start of the Regional Department of Transplantation, and that was 21.4 ±10.3 (1-141) months in 2014. Conclusions: Three-years of transplant activity in the Brest region resulted in a significant increase in the availability of deceased donor transplantations since every third of the patients with chronic renal failure had kidney allograft transplantation. The 3-year patient survival after transplantation was over 90% owing to up-to-date immunosuppressive regimens and management of postoperative complications.

Introduction: The identification of sliding hiatal hernia (SHH) less than 3 cm in size using barium swallow fluoroscopy (BSF) and oesophagogastroduodenoscopy (OGD) was recently noted as a non-reliable method, allowing for approximately 2 cm of inherent error in its size estimate. Aim of the research: We aimed to develop a reliable method, which could be used for preoperative visualisation and accurate anatomic depiction of any hiatal hernia and anatomical abnormalities in patients with incomplete gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) symptom remission after appropriate medical therapy. Material and methods: Within the period 2015-2017, 29 GORD patients (15 women, mean age 51 years) with incomplete symptom resolution on acid inhibition and equivocal findings as for SHH after endoscopy and/or BSF, were evaluated before laparoscopic anti-reflux surgery (LARS) using a computed tomography scan with a Sengstaken-Blakemore tube (CTSBT) provocation probe to confirm hernia existence. We calculated the sensitivity of each of these diagnostic tests. Results: SHH was diagnosed in 21 patients by OGD and/or BSF, but during the surgery this diagnosis was confirmed in 18 patients. The sensitivity was found to be significantly higher in CTSBT modality, comparing with each of the other diagnostic tests and even higher than in OGD and BSF together. Conclusions: CTSBT has been verified as the most efficient method to confirm or rule out SHH diagnosis or other anatomical abnormalities, which could be used to provide a surgeon with detailed information while making a decision about the advisability of LARS. Streszczenie Wprowadzenie: Rozpoznawanie wślizgowej przepukliny rozworu przełykowego (SHH) o rozmiarze mniejszym niż 3 cm z zastosowaniem fluoroskopii z barytem (BSF) i ezofagoduodendoskopii (OGD) zostało ostatnio uznane za mało wiarygodną metodę, pozwalającą na ok. 2 cm błędu w oszacowaniu jej wielkości. Cel pracy: Opracowanie metody, która może być wykorzystana do przedoperacyjnej wizualizacji i dokładnego anatomicznego obrazowania SHH i innych nieprawidłowości anatomicznych u pacjentów z chorobą refluksową przełyku (GORD). Materiał i metody: W latach 2015-2017 u 29 pacjentów (15 kobiet, średni wiek: 51 lat) z niepełną remisją GORD po odpowiedniej terapii lekowej, u których wcześniej zdiagnozowano GORD i podejrzewano SHH na podstawie wyników endoskopii i/lub BSF, wykonano tomografię komputerową z zastosowaniem sondy Sengstaken-Blakemore (CTSBT) przed laparoskopową operacją antyrefluksową (LARS) w celu potwierdzenia obecności przepukliny. Różnicę czułości testów diagnostycznych obliczono za pomocą testu McNemar's Chi-square. Wyniki: Przepuklinę rozpoznano u 21 pacjentów za pomocą OGD i/lub BSF, chociaż w trakcie operacji rozpoznanie potwierdzono tylko u 18 pacjentów. Czułość diagnostyczna była znacznie wyższa w zakresie modalności CTSBT, gdy porównano ją z każdym z pozostałych testów diagnostycznych, a nawet wyższa niż w OGD i BSF razem. New method of preoperative selection of patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease Med...

Introduction: Thoracoscopic plication is an effective treatment for diaphragmatic eventration, but the procedure has some disadvantages such as inadvertent abdominal organ injuries or superficial sutures that are not strong enough. Aim of the research: In this study, we devised and tested the method of diaphragm plication through simultaneous laparoscopic-and thoracoscopic-assisted left mini-thoracotomy. Material and methods: During the period between October 2012 and March 2014 there were four patients operated on for left-sided diaphragmatic paralysis. The average age was 52.3 ±17.8 years. The preoperative examination included a routine laboratory study, spirometry, plain chest radiograph, and computed tomographic scan of the chest. The initial part of the surgery was a two-port laparoscopy to remove the adhesions between the abdominal viscera and the abdominal segment of the diaphragm using bipolar electrocautery. After that, video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery plication of the diaphragm was performed via anterior mini thoracotomy. Results: The mean operation time was 58 ±11 min, and the mean hospital stay was 9.0 ±2.1 days. All of the patients demonstrated good postoperative recovery. The descending distance of the diaphragm after the surgery ranged from two to four intercostal spaces, which was confirmed with plain chest X-ray. The follow-up ranged from 20 to 38 months and showed no recurrence of diaphragm elevation symptoms. Conclusions: Simultaneous thoraco-and laparoscopic assisted mini-thoracotomy surgery for diaphragm plication is a safe procedure with strong positive clinical effect, and it can serve as an alternative to conventional thoracoscopic approaches especially in patients with high risk of inadvertent abdominal organ injuries.