Decortication Surgery

Decortication Surgery

Decortication is a medical procedure that entails surgical removal of the exterior layer, membrane, or fibrous covering of an organ. The procedure is generally carried out when the lung is covered by a thick inelastic pleural peel impeding lung expansion. In a non-medical sense, decortication is the removal of the bark, husk, or an outer-most layer of an object. It is also used in the treatment of chronic laryngitis.

When performing a decortication of the lung, which is the most ordinary form used, the patient is under general anesthesia and the chest cavity is broken open as it is during open-heart surgery. The surgeon studies areas of the pleural membrane (a kind of enclosure that surrounds the lungs) to find areas that have gotten fibrous and scarred, and removes them. The next step is to close the surgical opening and bring the patient out of anesthesia. This is major surgery, it is invasive and the patient needs several days of monitoring in a hospital to establish that the patient is healing as he/she should.

When the pleura are thickened, it usually causes pain and discomfort for the patient. If the pleura are left to thicken more, it can lead to a problem such as making it difficult for the patient to breathe. Also, since the lung that is involved may find it difficult to reinflate, it cannot push the pleura out of the way. As the patient struggles with lack of oxygen, this can lead to shortness of breath and other serious medical issues.

Pleural mesothelioma is caused by exposure to asbestos and develops when the deadly asbestos fibers become trapped in the space between the . When they are trapped in the mesothelium, the fibers automatically cause the cancerous cells to divide irregularly causing severe thickening of the pleural membrane. This may cause fluid build-up called pleural effusion. The fluid then puts pressure on the lungs and the breathing (respiratory) system preventing regular breathing.

A pleurectomy is a surgical procedure to remove part of the pleura, the lining around the lungs. This is one kind of surgery done to treat mesothelioma, which is a rare kind of lung cancer often connected to asbestos exposure. The surgeon removes the pleura, which is the area where most of the malignant tumor is usually located. If the cancer is in an extremely early stage, doctors deem a pleurectomy as a potential curative remedy or treatment. Other patients in the later stages of the cancer receive the surgery as a palliative kind of treatment to help alleviate symptoms.

Then there is the empyema, or infection within the pleural area. These are usually caused by pneumonia in the patient. Many patients that have pneumonia develop a plural effusion. Normally, the pleural effusion clears up when the pneumonia is treated. Often, in other patients, the infusion does not disappear, but becomes infected. An infected pleural infusion is known as an empyema. An empyema will generally not respond to antibiotics, nor will they clear on their own. Most of these infections will require surgical exploring and drainage.