title: Video-assisted thoracic surgery versus thoracotomy for non-small-cell lung cancer.
abstract: Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) has been recommended as more optimal surgical technique than traditional thoracotomy for lobectomy in lung cancer, but it is not well defined. Here, we compared VATS and traditional thoracotomy based on clinical data. From November 2008 to November 2010, 180 patients underwent lobectomy for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCL) identified by computerized tomography. Of them, 83 cases were performed with VATS and 97 by thoracotomy. Clinical parameters, consisting of blood loss, operating time, number of lymph node dissection, days of pleural cavity drainage, and length of stay were recorded and evaluated with t test. No significant difference was observed between the VATS and thoracotomy groups in the average intraoperative blood loss, number of lymph node dissections, and days of pleural cavity drainage. While the average operating time in the VATS group was significantly longer than that in thoracotomy group, recurrence was only present in one case, as opposed to 7 cases in the thoracotomy group In conclusion, similar therapeutic effects were demonstrated in VATS and thoracotomy for NSCL. However, VATS lobectomy was associated with fewer complications, recurrence and shorter length of stay.
authors.affiliation: Department of Thoracic Surgery, Shanghai Changzheng Hospital, Shanghai, China. pantiewenpanda@gmail.com
authors.forename: Tie-Wen
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Zhi-Fei
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Xue-Wei
authors.initials: XW
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhong
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002282:Adenocarcinoma, Bronchiolo-Alveolar / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D002289:Carcinoma, Non-Small-Cell Lung / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020775:Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted; D013908:Thoracotomy