lung collapse during partial nephrectomy

newdayyoga

during my partial nephrectomy, my right lung collapsed fully. has anyone else had this experience? ty

Supersum

Possible causes

When I was first diagnosed and I was told I needed a nephrectomy I was trying to get some money together so I could pay to expedite the procedure but my family doctor was strongly opposed to this and argued I could not quantify what was required and I could for example suffer a collapsed lung, the care of which would also have to be paid for even thought it had not been budgeted for.

After I read your post I found a few cases of nephrectomy-related collapsed lung one caused by repositioning after anesthetic, another more general cause was the known nephrectomy risk of an accidental cut or puncture into the chest cavity, causing a collapsed lung. A collapsed lung can also be caused by metastasis or spread into the lung (unlikely in your case). I am not sure if these causes are exhaustive, there might be others. (Collapsed lung could also be caused by lung biopsy not related to nephrectomy).

There is a member here who had a nephrectomy in 2009 who says "One of my lungs were collapsed and a rib was resected" but it is not clear what is going on here to cause the collapsed lung although it might have been deliberately collapsed to access the kidney. 

https://csn.cancer.org/comment/711587#comment-711587

Did the surgery team or your post-operative care give you any indication at all regarding what might have caused your collapsed lung? Can you deduce from the behaviour of the healthcare professionals what the cause might have been? What do you think it might have been?

I hope you are getting better now and you are back doing some of your favourite yoga poses as soon as possible after appropriate recovery and rehabilitation.