The use of transdermal therapeutic systems for chemical pleurodesis in a patient with prolonged air leakage after lung resection for cancer

This clinical observation demonstrates a method of a motivated use of a transdermal therapeutic system (TTS) based on fentanyl for chemical pleurodesis in a patient with prolonged air leakage after lung resection for cancer. The most common complication after elective lung resections is an alveolar-pleural fistula or prolonged air leakage. This clinical phenomenon occurs as a result of communication between the alveoli of the lung parenchyma distal to the segmental bronchus and the pleural cavity. In most cases, air leakage through the drains is eliminated spontaneously, but the frequency of prolonged pneumostasis absence in the postoperative period can reach 25 %, which has a negative effect on the outcomes of surgical interventions due to the development of pneumonia and empyema. Long-term drainage of the pleural cavity does not always end with aerostasis and requires repeated invasive interventions. One of the ways to achieve the tightness of the lung tissue involves various methods of chemical pleurodesis, which is a surgical manipulation – the introduction of a sclerosing chemical substance into the pleural cavity by spraying medical talc through a trocar or a injecting tetracycline solution into the pleural drains. The chemical causes aseptic inflammation and adhesions between the visceral and parietal pleura, followed by obliteration of the pleural cavity. The sclerosant introduction is accompanied by severe pain that can provoke respiratory and/or hemodynamic deficits, up to apnea and life-threatening heart rhythm disturbances. Pain relief during chemical pleurodesis is obviously an important factor in the prevention of a number of complications in patients undergoing surgery for lung cancer. Bolus intravenous injections of narcotic analgesics lead to an analgesic effect, but a short-term one due to the absence of a depot in the body and a sharp drop in the drug concentration in the blood serum. Unfortunately, this method of introducing narcotic drugs can cause various complications in weakened and elderly cancer patients, such as respiratory depression and cardiac arrest. The TTS action is characterized with continuous dosing and the creation of a constant concentration of the narcotic drug over a certain period of time. This method provides a multilevel and systematic approach to pain relief, reduces toxicity and minimizes the inhibition of the central mechanisms of external respiration regulation without causing respiratory and cardiac disorders in patients who underwent lung resection.

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