Pulmonary granuloma possibly caused by staples after video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery.

Abstract

A 74-year-old man, with a history of colon cancer resection and video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) resection of pulmonary metastases, was found to have a left pulmonary nodule near the previous staple-line. The size of this nodule increased during follow-up. Because of this clinical course, this nodule was considered to be a tumor recurrence at the staple-line, and pulmonary re-resection was performed. The pathologic diagnosis of this nodule was foreign body granuloma (FBG) possibly due to previous surgical staples. FBG induced by staples may be a rare complication in VATS.