ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the feasibility of Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery(VATS)in the treatment of mediastinal diseases. Methods 39 patients underwent VATS for mediastinal diseases from May 1994 to February 2002.There were 20 males and 19 females with a mean age of 44.9 years(range 25～75 years).13 patients with thymoma,2 patient with invasive thymoma,10 patients with neurogenic benign tumor,3 patients with esophagus cyst,3patients with bronchus cyst,2 patient with pericardial cyst,1 patient with teratoma and 5 patients with other conditions were included in the study.General anesthesia,double lumen endotracheal tube placement and single lung ventilation were used.The patients were placed in the lateral decubitus position with 15? slope forward for posterior mediastinal mass or with 15?～30? slope backward for anterior mediastinal mass.The camera port was placed in the sixth or the seventh intercostal space between the anterior anxillary line and posterior anxillary line.Two or three ports placed according to the site of the tumor permitted an adequate working distance that maximized the range of dissection within the chest.Mini-invasive thoracotomy combined with VATS were performed for some patients when the solid tumor was more then 5 cm in diameter or when it was closely adhesire to surrounding organs Results All patients recovered uneventfully.36 patients underwent tumor removal by VATS alone and 3 patients received mini-invasive thoracotomy combined with VATS performance.The overall incidence of postoperative complication and mortality rate were 0. Conclusions VATS is a safe and effictive technique in the selective patients with mediastinal masses.