Clinical outcomes of short hook wire and suture marking system in thoracoscopic resection for pulmonary nodules.
OBJECTIVE
The short hook wire and suture marking system is a device for localization of small pulmonary nodules in thoracoscopic resection. We and other authors have shown the feasibility of the marking procedure. In this study, we reviewed our recent experience to examine the problems for resecting procedure using the device and determine if the system negatively impacts the survival rates for lung cancers.


METHODS
Between November 1996 and March 2007, a total of 125 pulmonary nodular lesions in 108 patients were intended for thoracoscopic resection after localization with computed tomography-guided short hook wire and suture placement. We reviewed the major problems during surgery among all cases and prognosis in 64 patients with primary lung cancer.


RESULTS
One hundred and seventeen lesions (93.6%) were successfully resected by initial resection with no major complication. However, we experienced missing events, the major problem during surgery, which was defined as temporarily missing lesions or hook wires. Eight missing events (6.4%) consisting of five unresected lesions and three remaining hook wires occurred after initial wedge resection. All the missing lesions and one remaining hook wire were recovered by additional resection. No specific factors of lesions, including location, diameter, distance from the pleural surface, and opacification were related to incidence of the 'missing event'. Five-year survival of patients with stage IA lung cancer was 90.0% with no local recurrence.


CONCLUSIONS
Our localization method assured a consistent quality of resection regardless of the lesion characteristics and a reasonable prognosis for patients with primary lung cancer. The short hook wire and suture system provides acceptable utility in thoracoscopic surgery.
Department of Cancer and Thoracic Surgery, Okayama University, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Okayama 700-8558, Japan.
Kentaroh
K
Miyoshi
Shinichi
S
Toyooka
Hideo
H
Gobara
Takahiro
T
Oto
Hidefumi
H
Mimura
Yoshifumi
Y
Sano
Susumu
S
Kanazawa
Hiroshi
H
Date
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011300:Preoperative Care / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013536:Suture Techniques; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult