Surgical management of pleuro-peritoneal fistula in chronic renal failure patient—safety and effectiveness

BACKGROUND: Pleuro-peritoneal fistula (PPF) is a known complication arising in patients receiving continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) as a form of renal replacement therapy with an incidence of approximately 2% (1). Previous literature has shown that the recurrence rate of non-operative management of PPF to be ~45%. Video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) has been shown to be an effective and safe means of treating patients with PPF. However, to the author’s knowledge, there is currently no sizeable case series that discuss the various intra-operative findings, operative techniques employed, post-operative complications, duration of peritoneal dialysis suspension and fistula recurrence in this particular patient group. METHODS: From January 2009 to January 2019, patients who underwent VATS for the repair of PPF at The Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong were retrieved from the Clinical Data Analysis and Reporting System (CDARS). Patient’s epidemiological data, comorbidities and surgical data were analyzed RESULTS: There were 35 patients who underwent VATS PPF repair in our series. The mean age was 60.8 years (44 to 82 years), the (54.3%), mean operative time was 60.8 minutes (15–224 minutes). There were 8 patients (25.8%) who suffered from recurrence of pleural effusion after re-initiation of CAPD. Concomitant use of mechanical and talc pleurodesis was statistically significant in preventing PPF recurrence with an odds ratio of 0.1201 when compared to non-operative techniques. One patient suffered from hemothorax requiring re-operation on post-operative day one. There were no 30-day mortalities. CONCLUSIONS: VATS appears to be a safe and effective surgical treatment to prevent recurrence of continuous peritoneal dialysis associated PPF. Concomitant mechanical and talc pleurodesis appears to have additional benefit.