ObjectiveTo evaluate the safety and the clinical curative effect of mediastinal tumor resection by video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery(VATS） with spontaneous breathing under intravenous anesthesia, comparing with endotracheal tube anesthesia.MethodsThe data of 43 patients, aged 28–58 years, with mediastinal benign tumors which had been cofirmed by chest CT in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed. Among them, 18 patients underwent mediastinal tumor resection by VATS with spontaneous breathing under intravenous anesthesia, 25 patients by endotracheal tube anesthesia.The differences, including the time of anesthesia intubation and extubation, operation time and intraoperative blood loss, muscle strength at 4 hours and at 24 hours after operation, pain score at 24 hours after operation, hospitalization time, were be compared between the two groups.ResultsThe duration of intubation (17.8±4.8 min) in spontaneous breathing under intravenous anesthesia group was shorter than another group (28.6±8.17 min), the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). Muscle strength at 4 hours after operation in spontaneous breathing under intravenous anesthesia group was significantly higher than another group (38.5±6.5 kg vs. 28.3±5.2 kg, P<0.05) as well. However, there was no significant difference between the two groups in extubation time, operation time and intraoperative blood loss, muscle strength and pain score at 24 hours after operation, hospitalization time.