Pulmonary hernia secondary to limited access for mitral valve surgery and repaired by video thoracoscopic surgery

Iatrogenic pulmonary hernia is a rare condition. Repair is performed due to persistent symptoms and it is usually carried out by open surgery. We report a case of a 59-year-old woman who developed a lung hernia after small anterior thoracotomy that was performed for mitral valve surgery. The herniated lung is reduced with success by video thoracoscopic surgery and the chest wall defect is repaired by a polypropylene mesh fitted to the thoracic wall. At six-month follow-up, she was asymptomatic and without recurrence of hernia. Our experience suggests that video thoracoscopic surgery is a feasible surgical technique even for lung hernia secondary to mini-thoracotomy. However, before performing video thoracoscopic surgery, several factors preclusive to using this strategy must be considered, including the extensiveness of pleural adhesions due to the time interval between the previous operation and lung hernia, the site and the size of the hernia, and the insufficient experience in video thoracoscopic surgery.