• Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Anqing Municipal Hospital, Anqing, 246003, Anhui, P. R. China;
CHEN Jian, Email: 423287497@qq.com
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Objective To compare the clinical application of empirical thoracoscopic segmentectomy and precise segmentectomy planned by artificial intelligence software, and to provide some reference for clinical segmentectomy. Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the patients who underwent thoracoscopic segmentectomy in our department from 2019 to 2022. The patients receiving empirical thoracoscopic segmentectomy from January 2019 to September 2021 were selected as a group A, and the patients receiving precise segmentectomy from October 2021 to December 2022 were selected as a group B. The number of preoperative Hookwire positioning needle, proportion of patients meeting oncology criteria, surgical time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative chest drainage time, postoperative hospital stay, and number of patients converted to thoracotomy between the two groups were compared. Results  A total of 322 patients were collected. There were 158 patients in the group A, including 56 males and 102 females with a mean age of 56.86±8.82 years, and 164 patients in the group B, including 55 males and 109 females with a mean age of 56.69±9.05 years. All patients successfully underwent thoracoscopic segmentectomy, and patients whose resection margin did not meet the oncology criteria were further treated with extended resection or even lobectomy. There was no perioperative death. The number of positioning needles used for segmentectomy in the group A was more than that in the group B [47 (29.7%) vs. 9 (5.5%), P<0.001]. There was no statistical difference in the number of positioning needles used for wedge resection between the two groups during the same period (P=0.572). In the group A, the nodule could not be found in the resection target segment in 3 patients, and the resection margin was insufficient in 10 patients. While in the group B, the nodule could not be found in 1 patient, and the resection margin was insufficient in 3 patients. There was a statistical difference between the two groups [13 (8.2%) vs. 4 (2.4%), P=0.020]. There was no statistical difference between the two groups in terms of surgical time, intraoperative blood loss, duration of postoperative thoracic drainage, postoperative hospital stay, or conversion to open chest surgery (P>0.05). Conclusion  Preoperative surgical planning performed with the help of artificial intelligence software can effectively guide the completion of thoracoscopic anatomical segmentectomy. It can effectively ensure the resection margin of pulmonary nodules meeting the oncological requirements and significantly reduce the number of positioning needles of pulmonary nodules.