Carbon Dioxide Blower Facilitates Visceral Pleurectomy in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

Pleurectomy/decortication serves as a major component of therapy for malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM), but the procedure is time consuming. We tentatively applied carbon dioxide (CO2) blower into pleurectomy/decortication for a patient with local relapse of MPM. The blower can help increase the potential subpleural place thanks to the positive pressure by CO2, while the mist of saline could clean the potential bleeding to increase visibility. Thereby, the procedure was greatly facilitated in a more precise manner, with blood loss of 100ml and acceptable postoperative air leak and thorax drainage. Therefore, CO2 blower may be considered in pleurectomy/decortication for MPM.