Experience of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery in 207 patients / 中国微创外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To summarize the clinical experience of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) for thoracic diseases. Methods Clinical data of 207 patients receiving VATS form October 1997 to March 2004 were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, there were 155 cases of spontaneous pneumothorax treated by pulmonary bubble ligation or resection, 30 cases of spontaneous or traumatic hemopneumothorax treated by urgent exploration, 14 cases of pulmonary benign diseases undergoing pulmonary wedge resection and biopsy, and 8 cases of mediastinal tumor resection. Results Surgical procedures were completed thoracoscopically in 190 patients and were accomplished under thoracoscope with an additional mini-thoracotomy in 12 patients, while conversions to open surgery were required in 5 patients. The time of surgical procedures was 20~180 min (mean, 56 min). The postoperative hospital stay was 5~52 d (mean, 9 d). Postoperative complications occurred in 17 cases (8.2%, 17/207), including 9 cases of persistent air leakage, 6 cases of re-expansion pulmonary edema, and 2 cases of infection of thoracic cavity. Spontaneous pneumothorax reoccurred in 2 patients 3~4 months postoperatively. Conclusions VATS offers more advantages over traditional thoracotomy for the treatment of spontaneous pneumothorax pulmonary bubble, traumatic hemopneumothorax and selected chest benign diseases. The combination with mini-thoracotomy under certain circumstance may contribute to assuring the safety of this procedure.