[The first successful lung resection].

Abstract

In 1883 Krönlein resected a sarcoma of the ribs in an 18 year old female. Six months later he reoperated the patient for a local recurrency. At the second operation which necessitated a wide exposure of the thoracic cavity he deliberately removed a pulmonary metastasis about the size of a walnut. Two years later a new recurrence had to be resected. The three interventions led to a survival of 7 years. The patient succumbed to a further recurrence in 1890. Krönleins operation opened two new chapters in surgery, pulmonary interventions in general and in particular surgery of pulmonary metastasis. Surgery of lungs was not a topic of that era, particularly since some incisions for abscesses and resections of pulmonary parenchyma had not been successful. By limiting the indication to patients with sufficient pulmonary function and by following the successful pneumonectomy experiments in animals Krönlein favored pulmonary resection. The success of this intervention confirmed these considerations especially since it lasted for years. It was followed in 1885 by a pulmonary resection by G. Ruggi in Bologna. Surgery of the lung, however, came in general use only 50 years later.