The hostile chest refers to situations that make a redo operation through a sternotomy or right anterior thoracotomy prohibitively hazardous.
Conditions associated with a hostile chest - any of the following:
(1) abnormal chest wall anatomy (severe kyphoscoliosis, Potts' disease, thoracoplasty, other)
(2) complications from previous thoracic surgery
(3) evidence of severe radiation damage (esophageal stricture, skin burns, pulmonary fibrosis, bone loss)
(4) multiple pleural adhesions secondary to recurrent pleural effusions
