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.
Abstract: Objective To assess the feasibility of transferring major histocompatibility complex (MHC) gene into the thymus to mitigate xenograft rejection. Methods By molecular cloning technique, we extracted and proliferated the-H-2K d gene from donor mice (MHC class Ⅰ gene of Balb/c mice) and constructed the expression vector plasmid of pCI-H-2K d. Twenty SD rats were selected as receptors, and by using random number table, they were divided into the experimental group and the control group with equal number of rats in each group. By ultrasoundguided puncture and lipofection method, the pCI-H-2Kd was injected into thymus of SD rats in the experimental group and meanwhile, empty vector plasmid of pCIneo was injected into thymus of SD rats in the control group. Subsequently, we transplanted the donor mice myocardium xenografts into the receptor rats, and observed the xenograft rejection in both the two groups. Results The survival time of the xenotransplanted myocardium in the experimental group was significantly longer than that in the control group (14.61±2.98 d vs. 6.40±1.58 d, t=-7.619,Plt;0.05). Microtome section of transplanted myocardium in the control group showed a relatively large amount of lymphocyte infiltration and necrosis occurred to most part of the transplanted myocardium, while microtome section of experiment group showed no lymphocyte infiltration and most of the cells of the transplanted myocardium were still alive. After mixed lymphocyte culture, the reaction of receptors to donor cells in the experiment group was obviously lower than that in the control group (t=4.758, P=0.000).After the count by flow cytometer, the xenoMHC molecules were expressed in the receptors’ thymus with a transfection efficiency of 60.7%. Conclusion Our findings suggest that xenograft rejection can be mitigated substantially by donor’s MHC gene transferring into receptor’s thymus. This may provide theoretical and experimental evidence for inducing xenotransplantation tolerance.