Objective To investigate clinical outcomes of complete video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy and summarize our preliminary experience. Methods Clinical data of 60 consecutive patients who underwent complete video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy in General Hospital of Chengdu Military Command from March 2010 to August 2011 were retrospectively reviewed. There were 37 male patients and 23 female patients with their median age of 52.1 (17-77) years. There were 7 patients undergoing left upper lobectomy, 19 patients undergoing left lower lobectomy, 12 patients undergoing right upper lobectomy, 3 patients undergoing right middle lobectomy, 17 patients undergoing right lower lobectomy, and 2 patients undergoing combined right middle and lower lobectomy. Results The average operation time was 161 (50-270) minutes, average intra-operative blood loss was 310 (50-800) ml, average number of lymph node dissection was 13.4 (6-29), average postoperative thoracic drainage was 950 (250-2 800) ml, average duration of thoracic drainage was 4.6 (3-11) days, average intensive care unit stay was 1.2 (1-3) days, and average postoperative hospital stay was 7.7(4-14) days. None of the patients had any severe postoperative complication. Fifty-two patients were followed up for 7 to 24 months, and 8 patients were lost during follow-up. During follow-up, 5 patients had lung cancer metastases, including 2 patients with mediastinal lymph node metastases and 3 patients with distant metastases. After chemoradiotherapy,3 patients lived well but 2 patients died. None of the other patients had any severe complication during follow-up. Conclusion Complete video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy is a safe and effective surgical strategy for patients with benign or malignantpulmonary disease.
Abstract: Objective To compare clinical outcomes of complete video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (cVATS) lobectomy with routine thoracotomy lobectomy for the treatment of bronchiectasis, and evaluate the feasibility, safety and specific considerations of cVATS lobectomy for the treatment of bronchiectasis. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 115 patients who underwent lobectomy for the treatment of bronchiectasis in Beijing Chaoyang Hospital from May 2009 to January 2012. According to the way of operation, these patients were divided into two groups (cVATS group and thoracotomy group). In the thoracotomy group, there were 62 patients (28 males and 34 females with an age of 46.2±11.9 years) who underwent routine thoracotomy lobectomy. In the cVATS group, there were 53 patients (19 males and 34 females with an age of 45.7±12.2 years) who underwent cVATS lobectomy. Operation time, intra-operative blood loss, postoperative thoracic drainage, complications and hospitalization, and cost of hospitalization were compared between the two groups. Results There was no perioperative death in all patients. There was no statistical difference in operation time between the two groups. Intra-operative blood loss of thoracotomy group patients was significantly higher than that of cVATS group patients (228.8±121.7 ml vs. 157.1±123.8 ml, t=2.592, P=0.011). Postoperative thoracic drainage (866.7±439.5 ml vs. 1 805.3±466.7 ml, t=9.003,P=0.000), duration of chest tube drainage (6.6±3.3 d vs. 9.8±4.6 d,t=3.339,P=0.001), and postoperative hospitalization (7.5±2.2 d vs. 11.2±5.4 d, t=3.424,P=0.001) of cVATS group were significantly lower than those of thoracotomy group. The cost of hospitalization of cVATS group was significantly higher than that of thoracotomy group (38 543.6±11 051.8 yuan vs. 30 523.4±10 028.5 yuan,t=3.423, P=0.001). There was no statistical difference in postoperative complications between the two groups (P>0.05). Forty-five patients in cVATS group were followed up for 2 to 14 months. Among them, 42 patients completely had no sputum or haemoptysis and 3 patients still intermittently had some sputum. Conclusion cVATS lobectomy is safe and feasible for the treatment of bronchiectasis. Compared with routine thoracotomy lobectomy, cVATS lobectomy does not increase surgical risk, but can significantly reduce operation injury and length of hospital stay. During cVATS, the lung residual should be handled cautiously especially for patients with nonanatomic pulmonary resection, and the non-single-order operation is recommended.
Objective To evaluate clinical outcomes of complete video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy for patients with peripheral lung cancer.?Methods?We retrospectively analyzed clinical data of 90 consecutive patients with peripheral lung cancer who underwent complete VATS lobectomy from July 2009 to December 2011 in Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University. There were 55 male patients and 35 female patients with their age of 33-79 (62.5 ±11.5) years. Lymph node dissection group and number, operation time, intraoperative blood loss, length of postoperative chest drainage, length of postoperative hospitalization, postoperative morbidity and pain score were analyzed.?Results?There was no hospital death in this group. Operation time was 135.0±32.5 min, intraoperative blood loss was 230.0±80.4 ml, length of postoperative chest drainage was 4.8±2.1 days, and pain score on the third postoperative day was 5.3±1.2. A total of 520 groups and 1 568 lymph nodes were dissected during the operation, with 5.8 groups and 17.4 lymph nodes dissected in each patient. There were 71 groups with lymph node metastasis, a positive rate of 13.7% (71/520). Postoperatively, 2 patients had hoarseness and 3 patients had chylothorax, who were all cured after proper treatment. Ninety patients were followed up for 1-24 months. During follow-up, 4 patients died of tumor metastasis, and other patients were all alive with good quality of life.?Conclusion?Complete VATS lobectomy is a minimally invasive technique for patients with peripheral lung cancer with better postoperative recovery and reduced pain level. The safety and degree of radical resection of complete VATS lobectomy is similar to those of routine thoracotomy lobectomy. Complete VATS lobectomy can be recommended as a surgical treatment for patients with peripheral lung cancer.
Abstract: Objective To investigate the effect of singledirection lobectomy plus systematic lymphnode dissection for primary nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the early stage by videoassisted thoracic surgery (VATS). Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 89 patients who received VATS lobectomy plus systematic lymphnode dissection for earlystage primary NSCLC in the Second People’s Hospital of Chengdu between June 2006 and December 2009. Based on the operative approach, the patients were divided into two groups: VATSminithoracotomy group and singledirection lobectomy VATS group. In the former group, there were 46 patients, including 36 males and 10 females, with an age of 58.76±14.78 years. For patients in this group, minithoracotomy was carried out assisted by VATS. In the latter group, there were 43 patients, including 37 males and 6 females, with an age of 61.34±12.56 years, and singledirection lobectomy VATS was performed for patients in this group. Moreover, 42 patients undergoing routine posterior lateral open thoracotomy were chosen to form the control group (thoracotomy group, included 37 males and 5 females with an age of 56.30±15.59 years). The clinical features, such as operative time, operative blood loss, the number of systematic dissected lymph nodes, postoperative drainage quantity, postoperative complications and visual analogue scale (VAS) of chest pain were retrospectively analyzed to evaluate the early outcomes. Results No operative death occurred in all three groups. There were significant differences among the three groups in the postoperative drainage time (P=0.024), postoperative drainage quantity (P=0.019), operative blood loss (P=0.009), early outofbed activity time (P=0.031), and the incidence of cardiopulmonary complications (P=0.048). Compared with the VATSminithoracotomy group, the singledirection lobectomy VATS group was significantly lower or shorter (Plt;0.05) in postoperative drainage quantity (208.33±50.39 ml vs. 245.98±45.32 ml), operative blood loss (78.79±24.23 ml vs. 112.63±64.32 ml), and the early outofbed activity time (2.31±0.27 d vs. 3.56±0.31 d). The rate of using Dolantin in the control group was significantly higher than the other two groups (P=0.046, 0.007). The change of VAS score among the three groups after operation was also statistically significant (F=5.796, P=0.002). A total of 109 patients (37 in the VATSminithoracotomy group, 37 in the singledirection lobectomy VATS group, and 35 in the control group) were followed up after operation with a period of 2 to 48 months. Twentytwo patients were lost in the followup. There were 10, 9, and 8 deaths during the followup in the three groups respectively, and the median survival time was 40 months, 37 months, and 37 months respectively. There was no significant difference among the three groups in survival time (P=0.848). Conclusion VATS, especially VATS assisted single direction lobectomy and systematic lymphnode dissection for primary NSCLC in the early stage has the same surgical efficacy as the traditional open thoracotomy, and is minimally invasive, which contributes to a quick recovery. Consequently, it is a reliable approach for lung cancer in the early stage.
Objective To find out the best time and investigate the indications for conversion to horacotomy in completely thoracoscopic lobectomy. Methods Between Sep. 2006 and Feb. 2009, 172 patients including 88 male and 84 female with the median age of 58.9 years, underwent completely thoracoscopic lobectomy. Postoperative pathology showed that there were 133 cases of primary lung cancer, 7 cases of lung cancer metastasis and other malignant tumors, and 32 cases of benign diseases. Among them, 46 patients had the tumor on the right upper lobe (RUL), 23 on the right middle lobe (RML), 31 on the right lower lobe (RLL), 36 on the left upper lobe (LUL) and 36 on the left lower lobe (LLL). Three incisions were made in all operations. The procedures of systematic lymphadenectomy and anatomic lobectomy were similar with routine thoracotomy. If there was mediastinal lymph node adhesion, metastasis or bleeding, the incision would be extended to 12-15 cm and the surgery would be converted to thoracotomy. According to whether the maximum tumor dimension was above 5 cm or under 3 cm, the patients were divided into two groups. At the same time, we also divided the patients into two groups based on whether thoracotomy was performed. The data of both two groups were compared respectively. Results All surgeries were carried out safely with no serious complications or perioperative deaths. The average surgical duration was 185 minutes, and the average blood loss was 213 ml. Thirteen operations were converted to thoracotomy with a conversion rate of 7.6%. Among them, 9 were interfered by lymph nodes and bleeding happened in 4 operations. Lobectomy was performed on 12 patients and pneumonectomy was performed on 1 patient after thoracotomy. For the 16 cases of tumor with its dimension larger than 5 cm, the average operation time was 187 minutes and the average blood loss was 203.8 ml, while for the 98 cases of tumor with its dimension smaller than 3 cm, the average operation time was 202 minutes and the average blood loss was 231.3 ml. The difference between these two groups was not statistically significant. Among the 13 cases of conversion to thoracotomy, the mean age of the patients was 68.7 years old and the average tumor dimension was 23.8 mm. For the 159 cases without thoracotomy, the average age was 59.3 years old and the tumor dimension averaged 27.8 mm. There was a significant difference between them (P=0.016). Conclusion Interference by lymph nodes and bleeding are the most important causes of conversion to thoracotomy in completely thoracoscopic lobectomy while size of tumor, fused fissure or plural adhesions can be always managed thoracoscopically.
Abstract: Objective To find out goodness and weakness by comparing totally thoracoscopic surgery (TTS)and median sternotomy (MS)with cardiopulmonary bypass for pediatric open heart operation. Methods One hundred and fortyseven patients with ventricular septal defect(VSD) and atrial septal defect(ASD) were randomly divided into two groups according to operative methods, TTS group: patients were operated by totally thoracoscopy; MS group: patients were operated by median sternotomy with cardiopulmonary bypass. The clinical records from two groups were compared on operative effect, complications, hospitalization, ventilation time,variations of main data of blood routine test, drainage of pleura cavity, blood loss and transfusion, and pulmonary function. Results There were no death in two groups. There was VSD residual leak the same day after operation which was cured by TTS in one patient of TTS group. There was one case which bleeding was stopped by second operation in MS group. Followup visit were made to 41 patients for 3 months, no heart murmur was detected. The ultrasonic cardiography (UCG) showed that correcting of VSD and ASD were good and had no residual leak. The hospitalization,aortic clampping time, ventilation time and variations of main data of blood routine test, drainage of pleura cavity, blood transfusion and blood loss in TTS group had no significant difference to those in MS group (Pgt;0.05). Operating times was longer in TTS group than that in MS group, while stays in the intensive care unit were shorter in TTS group than that in MS group (Plt;0.01). Preoperative and 3 months postoperative pulmonary function of both teams had no statistically significant difference in two groups (Pgt;0.05). Conclusion TTS is a safe and effective method to pediatric VSD and ASD as MS is.
ObjectiveTo explore the effectiveness and safety of the improved approach of intraoperative temporary epicardial pacing lead implantation in complete video-assisted cardiac surgery. Method We included 50 cardiac patients with video-assisted cardiac surgery indications in our hospital from September 2013 to November 2013. According to approach to placing intraoperative temporary epicardial pacing lead, the patients were divided into two groups including an improved group (30 patients with 17 males and 13 females at age of 45.6±15.7 years) and a traditional group (20 patients with 12 males and 8 females at age of 44.2±17.7 years). Time of temporary epicardial pacing lead implantation, potential perioperative complications, and clinical data of intraoperation and postoperation were compared between the two groups. Result All the patients survived during perioperative period. No intraoperative bleeding, no pericardial tamponade, no infection caused by pacing wires, as well as no relevant postoperative complications occurred. Implantation time in the improved group is shorter than that in the traditional group (P<0.001). No patient had been found situations like moderate pericardial effusion, as well as pacing leads shifting during the following-up period. ConclusionThe improved approach has shorten the implantation time, which is simpler and more effective. No patient suffers from postoperative complications during short-term following-up. But the effect in long-term following-up period is still contentious.