Is major pulmonary resection by video-assisted thoracic surgery an adequate procedure in clinical stage I lung cancer?
Ohtsuka T; Nomori H; Horio H; Naruke T; Suemasu K Department of Thoracic Surgery, Saiseikai Central Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. t-oh@remus.dti.ne.jp OBJECTIVE: Although several studies have shown that video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) for major pulmonary resection is less invasive than open thoracotomy, VATS for lung cancer has been performed in only a limited number of institutions. We aimed to review our experience of VATS for major pulmonary resections, and to determine its safety and adequacy in stage I lung cancer. METHODS: Between August 1999 and March 2003, we performed major pulmonary resection by VATS in 106 patients with lung cancer and preoperatively determined clinical stage I disease. We evaluated the number of procedures converted to open thoracotomy and the reasons for conversion, the intraoperative blood loss, interval between surgery and chest tube removal, length of postoperative hospital stay, postoperative complications, mortality rate, prognoses, and patterns of r
