Abstract

Of 14 patients with complex aspergilloma complicating healed tuberculosis, 12 underwent lobectomy or pneumonectomy for recurrent haemoptysis. No deaths occurred, though one patient needed re-exploration for bleeding. There was no postoperative worsening of dyspnoea despite a mean forced vital capacity (FVC) of 60% predicted for the patients undergoing surgery and of 20% predicted for two patients with severe restrictive defects, perhaps owing to the fact that there was little or no function in the resected part of the lung, as shown by preoperative isotope ventilation-perfusion scanning, and that patients were under the age of 50 and generally fit. There has been no recurrence of haemoptysis during follow up, which has been from 12 to 33 months. Surgical resection, provided that cases are carefully selected, offers the best chance of cure with low mortality and morbidity.