Bronchial stump reinforcement with an azygous vein flap

Bronchial stump reinforcement has been shown to significantly reduce the incidence of bronchopleural fistulas. Various coverage techniques have been described in the literature. While the azygous vein flap is an easy, safe and effective reinforcement option for right-sided bronchial stumps, the flap is not widely adopted, with little mention in the literature, partly due to surgeons' uneasiness with the technique. In this report, we describe an easy-to-adopt approach to azygous vein bronchial reinforcement.