VATS without general anesthesia: initial experience of 18 cases

ABSTRACT

Background: General anesthesia and selective ventilation has long been the traditional anesthetic approach for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery [VATS]. However it may not always be necessary or feasible in a certain variety of patients. VATS under locoregional anesthesia and sedation has proved to be a safer and more efficacious alternative to general anesthesia, especially in cases deemed unfit for the latter