Diagnosis and Treatment of Small Pulmonary Nodules via Video-assisted Thoracic Small Incision / 中国微创外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the efficacy of video-assisted thoracic small incision in diagnosis and treatment of small pulmonary nodules.Methods From February 2007 to February 2008,53 patients(aged over 40 years) with small solitary pulmonary nodule(≤3 cm in diameter) were treated by video-assisted thoracoscopy via a small incision.The nodules were removed during the operation,and then based on the results of quick pathological examination,malignant cases received further surgeries.Results Totally 39 patients were diagnosed with malignant disease,34 of them received small-incision radical lobectomy for primary lung cancer,small-incision resection of the lesions were performed on 5 patients who had bilateral(2 cases) or metastatic lung cancer(3 cases).Benign lesions were confirmed in 14 patients during the operation,and were removed by local resection.All of the patients with primary lung cancer,except one,achieved an mean of 7 months follow-up(ranged 2 to 12 months),31 of the patients survived without tumor during the period;2 patients showed recurrent cancer in 6 months after the operation,and thus received lobectomy.The 2 patients who had bilateral lung cancer and the 3 cases of metastatic lung cancer died in 2 to 6 months(mean,4 months) after the surgery.The 14 benign cases were followed up for 3 to 12 months(mean,7.5 months),none of them had recurrence.Conclusion Video-assisted thoracic small incision is effective in the diagnose and treatment of small pulmonary nodules.