Safety analysis of thulium laser in thoracoscopic pulmonary wedge resection / 中国胸心血管外科临床杂志

ABSTRACT

@#Objective     To explore the feasibility and safety of 2 μm thulium laser in thoracoscopic wedge resection.  Methods     The clinical data of 137 patients who underwent thoracoscopic wedge resection with thulium laser (as a thulium laser group, 64 patients, including 22 males, 42 females, average age of 58.39±10.40 years) and staplers (as a stapler group, 73 patients, including 33 males, 40 females, average age of 60.79±10.96 years) in thoracic Department of Xuanwu Hospital between April 2016 and August 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. In the study, the intraoperative blood loss, the operative time, chest tube duration, daily amount of fluid leak, hospital stay and hospitalization costs were compared between two groups.  Results     The intraoperative blood loss of the thulium laser group (16.05±23.67 mL) was significantly shorter or lower than that of the stapler group (28.56±32.09 mL) (P=0.011). Besides, the post operation hospital stay and hospitalization costs of the thulium laser group (4.72±2.49 d, 37 127.33±9 302.14 yuan) were also significantly shorter or lower than those of the stapler group (5.67±2.02 d, 49 545.76±13 831.93 yuan) (P=0.015, P=0.000). Furthermore, no statistical difference was found between the thulium laser group and the stapler group in the operative time (116.38±41.91 min vs. 108.36±47.25 min), total hospital stay (10.13±2.98 d vs. 11.05±3.26 d), daily amount of fluid leak (138.38±72.23 mL vs. 152.7±77.54 mL), chest tube duration (2.89±2.34 d vs. 3.52±1.48 d) and the frequency of postoperative fever (0.89±1.55 times vs. 1.23±1.70 times).  Conclusion     Applying 2 μm thulium laser to thorascopic wedge resection is safe and feasible. Besides, 2 μm thulium laser can achieve a similar result to that of the standard technique by using staplers.