ObjectiveTo investigate the feasibility,safety and short-term clinical outcomes of complete videoassisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) lobectomy for patients with early-stage lung cancer (LC). MethodsClinical data of 138 consecutive patients with early-stage LC who underwent lobectomy in the First People's Hospital of Jining from January 2012 to May 2013 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 71 patients undergoing complete VATS lobectomy including 39 male and 32 female patients with their age of 57.9±10.6 years (VATS group) and 67 patients undergoing lobectomy via traditional thoracotomy including 36 male and 31 female patients with their age of 60.3±8.2 years (thoracotomy group). Operation time,intraoperative blood loss, groups and number of lymph node dissection,thoracic drainage duration, postoperative hospital stay,vision analogue scores (VAS) on the 1st,3rd and 30th postoperative day, and postoperative morbidity were compared between the 2 groups. ResultsAll the patients in both groups success fully received their operation. Intraoperative blood loss (147±113 ml vs. 146±91 ml) number of lymph node dissection (9.9±3.6 vs. 10.0±3.6) group of lymph node dissection (3.1±1.3 vs. 3.4±1.3) and VAS on the 1st and 3rd postoperative day of VATS group were not statistically different from those of the thoracotomy group (P>0.05). Operation time (119±27 minutes vs. 135±29 minutes) thoracic drainage duration (3.0±0.9 days vs. 3.8±1.2 days) postoperative hospital stay (8.0±2.1 days vs. 10.2±5.4 days) VAS on the 30th postoperative day (2.6±0.7 vs. 3.2±1.1) and postoperative morbidity (8.5% vs. 19.4%) of VATS group were significantly shorter or lower than those of the thoracotomy group (P<0.05). Fifty-nine patients in VATS group and 58 patients in the thoracotomy group were followed up for 2-18 months after disc harge. During follow-up,there was no death in either group. There was 1 patient with brain metastasis,1 patient with liver metastasis,and 2 patients with bone metastasis. ConclusionComplete VATS lobectomy is safe and feasible for the treatment of early LC with the advantages of minimal invasiveness,less morbidity,better postoperative recovery and less chronic incision pain. Complete VATS lobectomy can also achieve similar standardization of lymph node dissection as routine thoracotomy.