Pulmonary torsion after open esophagectomy for esophageal cancer: a case report and review

Pulmonary torsion (PT) is an extremely uncommon event (1-4). Although PT is known to occur only rarely after lung resection, we now know that it can also occur after other thoracic procedures such as cardiac, esophageal, and chest trauma surgery and, spontaneously, after chest trauma itself (3-11). A delay in diagnosis and/or an improper treatment strategy can lead to serious complications (3,4,10-15). In this report, we describe a case of PT, discuss what we learned about methods of early diagnosis and appropriate treatment strategies from our experience, and review the literature.