Incarceration hernia of the lung after video-assisted thoracic surgery requiring emergency operation: a case report

Lung hernia is defined as the protrusion of lung tissue through a bounding structure (1). There are a few reports of lung herniation occurring after a lung operation, but such cases rarely require emergency surgery (2). We here report the case of a patient who developed lung herniation after wedge resection, and required emergency surgery due to post-operative respiratory difficulty. In this patient, an aerial fistula developed when portions of the lung escaped the thoracic cavity after rib fracture, making air drainage via a thoracic drain ineffective, and causing the sudden development of subcutaneous emphysema, which required emergency surgery.